Parental leave and our handbook

[Escalateandcreate]

I want to take parental leave next year and read the handbook today. I thought I could take it as long as DD was under 18. This seems to indicate under 5 or am I reading it wrongly. This is what it says

An employee who qualified for parental leave is entitled to 18 weeks unpaid leave for each individual child. Both parents are potentially eligible. In most cases, leave must be taken by the child’s fifth birthday. If your child is adopted, you are entitled to take unpaid leave up to the fifth anniversary of your child’s placement with you or until their 18th birthday, whichever comes first.

I am pretty certain it is for any child up until they turn 18

It's up to 18 now; the policy was up to age 5 but changed in 2015(?).

It's up to 18, definitely, but you can only take up to 4 weeks in any one year unless your employer agrees to more.

Sounds like they didn't update it when the law changed!

Thank you. This is helpful.

It used to be 5, they haven't updated the policy.