I am a female CI with the ATC, in the process of potentially being put forward for a commission.
My husband and I are currently trying for a baby, and I have a couple of questions related to being a CI and potentially being pregnant…
It’s that time of the year when summer camp applications are going in - I really want to go but all things being well I’ll hopefully be quite pregnant in August - can pregnant staff go on camp? All I can find in the ACPs etc are just that when a staff member becomes pregnant there need to be risk assessments - no mention of do’s/don’ts.
Can I still go through my interviews etc for my commission? Again I can’t find anything around this…
If anyone knows anything on this I’d be really grateful! Ta.
There is no reason in principle why you couldn’t go; it depends on the assessment of risk to you and your child and also, to a certain extent I would imagine, whether you could still discharge your duty of care properly on said camp if you were heavily pregnant. As you say, there are no hard & fast rules…it’s all based upon a risk assessment of the situation at the time.
I can’t say I’ve ever had to manage such a situation but if I had to, I would ask questions like… how pregnant are they? What activities are we doing and what effect could they have on mother & child (e.g. noise & fumes from shooting)? If participation is limited in most activities, is there a suitable role we could employ you in? If they went into labour on camp, could we deal with it? Would cadet safety/training be affected if this were to happen?
As for the commission, the one consideration is that you would have to pass OASC which involves a certain amount of physical work in the command tasks in the hangar. Along the same lines, would it be safe for you to take part in these? No problem with dealing with the interviews - no reason why being pregnant should have any impact here (apart from perhaps baby brain causing you issues in the planning exercises )!
Personally I’d say put your name down for what you want to do and just caveat it with the fact you may be pregnant when it comes around, so the chain of command are aware and can put the appropriate process in place to condcut the risk assessment if and when the time comes.
Edit: A quick bit of research suggests they would probably follow the policy set out in JSP 375 Vol 2 Leaflet 36 (New & Expectant Mothers at Work), which basically says the above…it’ll all be based on a risk assessment. If the risks can be adequately controlled, then there is no reason why you couldn’t attend.
I would agree with Redowling in that it should not affect you going for a commission at OASC or attending summer camp. However I would say that everything will be fine until you fall pregnant at which point everything will change.
Based on what OASC incurs, AFAIK you would probably be prevented from attending this, due to the somewhat physical nature, it would be unfair to pass you as an officer without completing the full package.
It s also worth noting that you can’t attend a camp as an officer cadet, and will need to complete IOC prior to be eligible to go on camp as an officer. Put your name forward, and should your situation change then someone will hopefully step up and cover your place. As things things stand you are able to do both. I would however advise against telling the chain of command that your trying for a baby, all women run the risk of falling pregnant, but advertising the fact will reduce your chances of getting on Camp/OASC as peoples opinions will change.
[quote=“themajor” post=15747]Based on what OASC incurs, AFAIK you would probably be prevented from attending this, due to the somewhat physical nature, it would be unfair to pass you as an officer without completing the full package.
It s also worth noting that you can’t attend a camp as an officer cadet, and will need to complete IOC prior to be eligible to go on camp as an officer. [/quote]
I would have a thought a “deferred” appointment could be adopted here?
as in Female CI passes the boards but is known to be pregnant (on the assumption you are at the time fo the board) and so the ball starts to roll, however with other aspects preventing it (pregnancy) a defferred commission, say 6 months can be adopted permitting enough time for the dust to settle after baby’s birth and from then pick up the process as before…
I would love to think so, however you see it in the workplace, choice of male / female, the male gets the job, as no risk of getting pregant and disappearing for the best part of a year on maternity
Yes, but we are not really in the workplace, are we? People come and go all the time for a wide variety of reasons, pregancy being one of many different reasons.
I’m with a good squadron with an awesome OC, but I still didn’t want to advertise the fact we are trying to get pregnant as I’m not actually pregnant yet, and so don’t want to be told I should wait and go through the commission route post baby as I might not even get pregnant for ages and the process seems to take long enough as it is!
At least if I can have my wing interview done and potentially OASC (depending on timeframe) I will have made good headway and can do OIT later.
I might just apply for camp anyways - again I might not actually get pregnant then I’ve missed out for no reason!
I intend to stay as involved as possible with ATC and would intend to go back sooner than I do to work, would be done nice daddy-baby bonding time!
I say crack on. Other than the above, there’s nothing stopping you applying. If you’re in uniform by then you can wear one of the RAF’s fetching maternity gowns!
Agreed. Crack on with the application, and what may happen may happen (and until it does happen it is none of their business ), and people will have to deal with it.
)!
), and people will have to deal with it.