COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- For the ninth
consecutive year, American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) has been
named one of the most adoption-friendly workplaces by the Dave
Thomas Foundation for Adoption.
AEP provides full-time, regular employees with financial
assistance of up to $3,000 per child
for eligible adoption-related expenses and up to 40 hours of paid
leave for new adoptive parents. Since early 2007, AEP has assisted
its employees with 76 adoptions.
"Our company is dedicated to providing family-friendly programs
that promote work/life balance for our employees," said
Curt Cooper, AEP's director of
employee benefits. "The adoption assistance program is one way we
can support our employees who make the life-changing decision to
expand their families through adoption. We are honored to receive
the Dave Thomas Foundation award for the ninth straight year."
Information from employers nationwide was used to compile the
foundation's annual rankings of adoption-friendly workplaces. The
rankings are based on the maximum amount of financial reimbursement
and paid leave per adoption.
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is a national
non-profit, public charity dedicated to dramatically increasing
adoptions of the more than 134,000 children in North America's foster care systems. The late
Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's
Restaurants and an adopted child, created the foundation in 1992.
More information is available at
http://www.davethomasfoundation.org/.
American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities
in the United States, delivering
electricity to nearly 5.4 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks
among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning nearly
32,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns
the nation's largest electricity transmission system, a more than
40,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high
voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems
combined. AEP's transmission system directly or indirectly serves
about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern
Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers
38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the
electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers
much of Texas. AEP's utility units
operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West
Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky
Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power
Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP's headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.
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SOURCE American Electric Power