SINGAPORE, Nov 10 — Fathers will be legally entitled to a second week of government-paid paternity leave from January, as amendments to the Child Development Co-Savings Act (CDCA) were passed in Parliament today, completing the set of legislative changes announced by the Government earlier this year to better support parenthood.

Under the changes, shared parental leave and adoption leave will also be increased, while unwed mothers will also finally see the full 16-weeks of maternity leave benefits extended to them.

These changes were announced during the Budget debates in April this year.

For fathers, government-paid paternity leave is currently provided by employers on a voluntary basis, and an earlier round of legislative amendments was passed in May to allow employers to claim reimbursement for providing a second week of paternity leave to fathers.

Under the new laws, fathers can opt to take two weeks’ leave at the child’s birth, or take it flexibly within one year of the child’s birth.

Meanwhile, shared parental leave will be increased from one to four weeks from July 1 next year, and mothers can choose to share the leave in blocks of weeks any time before the child turns one.

The Ministry of Social and Family Development said the enhancements overall will see fathers being able to take up to eight weeks off in their baby’s first year — comprising two weeks of paid paternity leave, four weeks of paid shared parental leave (shared by their wives), six days of paid childcare leave and one week of unpaid infant care leave.

For those wishing to adopt, adoption leave will be increased from four to 12 weeks from July 1 next year. Unwed persons seeking to adopt children will also be given more help from January — an unwed adoptive mother would be eligible for adoption leave while an unwed adoptive father will be eligible for paternity leave. Currently, government-paid adoption leave is only granted to women who are married at the time they formally intend to adopt.

Adoptive mothers can take adoption leave as an eight-week block, starting anytime between the date of formal intent to adopt and the date when the adoption order is granted. The remaining four weeks can be taken flexibly. — TODAY