Paternity leave experiences?

I'm writing on behalf of a friend who's a reporter for a major,
national parenting magazine. He's working on an article about
paternity leave - how widespread is it, who's using it, whether it's
becoming more widely accepted, etc. Mike has been interviewing fathers
who have had experiences with paternity leave. The problem is that
most of the dads he's found so far were referred to him by companies
that offer paid leave as a benefit, and so of course the dads all had
no trouble taking leave and have been happy with their experience.

Mike knows this isn't the whole picture. He says that statistics
indicate that paternity leave is still quite uncommon and that many
dads face lots of resistance. He'd like to hear about fathers whose
experiences haven't been so wonderful. That means dads who have taken
unpaid leave, who have met resistance to the idea of taking leave, who
didn't take leave because they were actively discouraged from taking
it, or who feel they've suffered because they did take it. He'd also
be thrilled to hear about dads whose stand on taking leave influenced
their bosses or employers to reconsider.

He adds, for clarification, that by "paternity leave," he means a
break from work at or near the time of birth or adoption -- so he's
not looking at stay-at-home or work-at-home dads in this case.

I told Mike I'd ask here about people's experiences with paternity
leave. If you post here, Mike will read your post. He's interested in
getting a sense of the range of experiences people have had with
paternity leave. He won't quote you without permission. Or, if you
know of any web-boards or email lists where dads discuss issues of
paternity leave, he'd like to know where he can find them.

Also, if you've got a story you'd like to share (or know of a father
who does), Mike would be interested in doing a phone interview. He'd
prefer to have on-the-record interviews, which would mean publishing
the dad's name, age, city of residence, and at least a general
description of the type of work and employer (if not the employer's
name). But he also says, "For a good anecdote, I can offer anonymity,
defined as follows: I would have to have all the above identifying
information, plus contact information (phone number, e-mail address),
which I would share with my editors, but the dad's identity would not
be published."

I can personally vouch for Mike -- I've known him many years, and he's
reputable and conscientious. His work appears in major magazines.
(He's also a father of two.)

Anyone who has a story for Mike can find him at
. Tell him you heard via Robin's posting. If
you're on other parenting lists or "month" lists, please feel free to
forward this along. Mike needs to hear back before Feb. 20, so please
don't forward this message after that date.

Thanks,

--Robin