Final answer:
Under the Child Development Co-savings Act (CDCA), employees are entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for family reasons, including the birth of a child or a family illness. The U.S. does not mandate paid leave for new parents, but the Child Tax Credit was expanded to offer monthly payments to qualifying families.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Child Development Co-savings Act (CDCA) is meant to support working families by providing certain protections related to family and medical leave.
Under this act, employees are generally entitled to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for qualified family reasons, which includes the birth of a child or caring for a family member with a serious health condition. This benefit provides vital support to families during important life events without the fear of losing their employment.
While the CDCA offers protection for unpaid leave, it is worth noting that, as observed in a study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the U.S. is the only one out of 41 countries that does not provide mandated paid leave for new parents.
However, there was a major development in government fiscal policy to support families with the expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) under President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan in 2021.
This credit provides monthly payments directly to qualified families' bank accounts to help manage expenses for their children, thus offering a different form of financial assistance to working families. The credit amount was increased from previously $2,000 to up to $3,600 for children under the age of 6.
It's important to differentiate between the CDCA's unpaid leave entitlement and the support provided by programs like the expanded CTC, which seeks to alleviate some financial burdens on families through monthly payments, as opposed to the leave entitlements.