In a monumental amendment to the Employment Act in March 2021, pre-adoptive leave was provided for  in  Kenya.  Section  29A  of  the  Employment  Act,  2007  (Retrieved  from http://kenyalaw.org:8181/exist/kenyalex/actview.xqlactid=No.%2011%20of%202007 )  provides that  an  employee  is  entitled  to  one  month’s  pre-adoptive  leave  with  full  pay  from  the  date  of placement of child under the employee’s care. According to ILO (2014) Maternity and Paternity at Work,  Law  and  Practice  across  the  World,  (Retrieved  from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/@publ/documents/publication/wc ms_242615.pdf  )  several  other  countries  have  long  embraced  the  practice  of  pre-adoptive  leave  in their  legislative  systems.  These include Senegal, the United Kingdom and Brazil where benefits available for maternity leave are similar to those availed for adoptive parents. ILO recommends that pre-adoptive  leave  be  provided  to  both  parents  but  some  countries  have  not  enforced  this.  In Columbia,  for  instance,  adoptive  leave  is  only  availed  to  mothers  of  children  less  than  7  years whereas Peru restricts the leave to married women in the process of adopting a child.

So much for Kenya at the base of implementation of this pre-adoptive leave in Kenya, which is available also to prospecting fathers on simple definition of employee.  Section  29A  of  the  Employment  Act states  that  where  pursuant  to  section  157  of  the  Children  Act,  a  child  is  to  be  placed  in  the continuous care and control of an applicant who is an employee under this Act, the employee must notify  their  employer  in  writing  of  the  adoption  society’s  intention  to  place  the  child  under  the employee’s  care.  The  notification  must  be  14  days  before  placement  of  the  child,  accompanied  by documentary  evidence  of  the  adoption  agency’s  intention  to  place  the  child  under  the  employee’s care. That means there must be a custody agreement between the adoption agency and the employee, also an exit certificate as well must accompany the application, which is the written authority given by a registered adoption society to a prospective adoptive parent to take the child from the custody of  the  adoptive  society.  It  is  imperative  to  note  that  the  protection  of  rights  given  to  employees proceeding  on  maternity  leave  is  also  extended  in  pre-adoptive  leave;  including  the  right  to  not forfeit annual leave on account of taking their pre-adoptive leave.