Resources for Parents
Many scientists act as parents outside the lab and balancing the demands of work with the demands of family life can be intensely stressful. Many of our faculty, staff and scientists are parents. Indeed, some of our associated faculty have been leaders in establishing on-campus childcare. Therefore, it is very important to us in the BMB to support parents as they build their careers.
In general, many inclusive and supportive resources can be found on the Diversity and Inclusion Office (DIO) website, the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) website, or the Human Relations (HR) website. We have curated some relevant resources from these sources and others below:
Human Resources is the main source of information and support for parents at UMass Chan. Highlights of this information are listed below:
- UMass Chan sponsors a Child Care Center (Bright Horizons Family Solutions) and the Employee Assistance Program offers free personalized child care referral services. There is also a Child Care Assistance Program to help make pre-kindergarten childcare affordable for working parents (available during open enrollment in April/May).
- The locations and reservation procedures for four Mother’s Rooms across the main campus can be found here.
- UMass Chan provides financial assistance for certain IRS-qualified child adoption expenses.
School and District Profiles for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts can be found here.
NIH grants often have family-friendly initiatives, including supplements for re-entry to the scientific workforce after childcare or other responsibilities and policies that allow awardees to request adjustments to their appointment status or percent effort based on child care or other responsibilities.
Women Returners maintains a list of re-entry funding opportunities and associated societies and networks that can provide support. Be sure to look for re-entry opportunities specific to your field of research, e.g. the American Association of Immunologists’ Fellowship Program for Career Reentry. The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology has also published a list of resources for parents returning to science.
