Dennis McDonough and John Kihm have been together for over eight years and married since May 2015. Becoming dads was always part of their plan. In 2016, they became foster dads and during the following six months after becoming licensed, they cared for nine foster kids.
“We knew that we would be able to help children who were in need, children who were scared and had no where to go and no one to love them,” shared Dennis. “We knew that somewhere along the process we would eventually have children who would need our love forever.” Currently, the dads have four children, two of which they’ve adopted.
As this family has welcomed more children, helped reunite others with their biological families, and finalized two of their sons’ adoptions, neither dad received any paid paternity leave.
Watch Dennis and John’s video:
We’re advocating alongside Dove Men+Care advocate for paid paternity leave for *ALL* dads! Our goal is to get 100,000 folks to sign the Paternity Leave Pledge and take those signatures to key policymakers in Washington, D.C. for their Day of Action on the Hill, and drive urgency behind this issue.
Dove Men+Care has collected over 30,000 signatures on the Pledge for Paternity Leave in three short months, in a mission to champion and support new legislation for federally mandated paid leave laws in the U.S. With the conversation growing on Capitol Hill, Dove Men+Care will target key legislators to drive urgency behind paid paternity leave policy and provide a social proof in the form of real dad testimonials, expert research and signature support from families across the country.
***
