On June 1, 2018, Georgia passed into law the Care for Dad in Georgia. This new law provides for paid time off to care for a gravely ill or injured child's father or stepfather, who is not the child's biological parent. To ensure that these caregivers are properly compensated and taken care of during their absence from work, a registry was created as well as regulations established in order to register as a Professional Registered Nurse in Georgia State.
A few days after the new law made its way through the Georgia legislature, the Center for Disease Control reported that there were 63,000 DNA-tested paternity tests performed in 2016 alone. All of these tests were performed in order to determine paternity and child support obligations arising from child custody and visitation arrangements between divorced parents. With this many men coming forward to take advantage of the new Georgia law, it was important that enforcement measures were put in place.
The first step to being compensated for caring for a gravely ill child's father or stepfather was to register as a Professional Registered Nurse. This is done by completing an online application along with paying a non-refundable $250 fee; once the application has been accepted, the applicant must pay an additional $400 annual registration fee.
A Nurse must be in good standing at his/her current place of employment before making any registration extension requests and all extensions must be authorized by the previous employer. Once registered as a Professional Registered Nurses in GA, the caregiver can apply for up to 10 consecutive days of paid time off when caring for a child's father, stepfather, parent, or sibling - all other conditions must be met.
The Care Act for Dads is an unprecedented piece of legislation that requires all parties interested to be aware of its existence and the benefits it offers. This law is designed to help families work through potentially hard times while supporting their loved ones.