Children's National Health System

"There are a lot of women in pediatrics in general- the outpatient division (Goldberg Center) is fairly diverse, and responsive to women at all levels. However Children's has gotten so big that the bureaucratic red tape in general is extremely frustrating- both with the ridiculously slow onboarding process, and with finding answers from HR... Regarding maternity leave, my medical director encouraged me to take as much time as I needed- Children's now offers a 6 week paid parental leave for all employees who have been there >12 months; I would also recommend signing up for short term disability in advance of getting pregnant for extra paid leave (which you also have to have a year in advance). Beyond that the official policy from HR is now that you cannot use sick time beyond that 6 weeks paid parental leave (can use vacation time or unpaid leave only), but since it is a new policy managers for each department may allow sick time or ASSLA to be used as well. The Hartford Group administers the paid parental leave, short-term disability, and FMLA policies- DC offers 16 weeks FMLA, better than the national policy."

"Lots of women were both my team members and team leaders. I always felt secure in being a woman here. "