Karlo Campana plays Magnatiles with his daughters Gianna and Giselle, watched by his 5-month-old son Gianluca. Campana is one of a growing number of California men taking advantage of the state’s paid bail bondsman program.
Dania Maxwell for NPR
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Dania Maxwell for NPR
Karlo Campana is usually outnumbered these days. He has three young children under the age of 4.
On a recent Saturday, he played a mini-basketball game with his two older children in their Southern California home, shooting a ball through a hoop on the doorstep, while his little boy watched from his bouncy seat.
Campana took paid leave in May after the birth of his son – just as he did for his daughters.
It is sometimes called “bonding” or “family” leave, to distinguish it from paid leave (“maternity” or “disability” leave) that mothers can take to physically recover from childbirth.
“You need that adjustment period,” he said. Campana, who works at an advertising agency, said having time off to not think about work — or worry about losing income during that time — was crucial for him and his family during a sleep-deprived period.
“My wife doesn’t do it alone,” he said. “She doesn’t feel alone on this journey. She feels like she has support.” He jokes that child #3 thought he managed to change diapers without too much mess – but he was wrong.
“The benefits are I get to spend time with each of them when they were in the infant stage, in the baby stage, and I get to hold them and, you know, change diapers that have poop in them,” he said. “It’s like the fun times when you’re a parent, like, ‘That’s it, you’re in the thick of it.'”
Karlo Campana plays with his daughter Giselle and baby Gianluca at home on October 12 in Santa Ana, California. With three children under the age of 4, paid paternity leave gave him something invaluable: time to bond with his children and support his wife during the height of first-time parenthood.
Dania Maxwell for NPR
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Dania Maxwell for NPR
Campana is among a growing number of fathers taking time off to bond with a new child in states that offer paid family leave programs — and part of a broader cultural shift that has seen fathers take on more childcare duties.
In California – as in several other states – men make up about half of bail applications. Last year, men even surpassed women – as in Colorado and Washington – for the first time in state history. The trend comes at a time when the federal government has said it wants Americans to have more babies and families say affordability is a barrier to raising them.
There is no federal law guaranteeing paid parental leave, but California is one of 14 states, along with Washington, D.C., that have passed legislation to enact paid family leave programs — and in many of those places, more fathers are participating.
“We are in a very different place in terms of understanding gender roles, paternity leave and the role of fathers than we were over 20 years ago,” said Molly Weston Williamson, policy director of Paid Leave for All, an organization that advocates for paid family leave policies.
The California program provides, within one year, up to eight weeks of paid bonding leave to parents after a birth, adoption or foster care placement. This is in addition to the six to eight weeks of paid disability leave that moms can get back after the birth.
Karlo Campana at dinner with his wife Lily and their three children. His experience reflects a broader shift across California, where fathers accounted for 51% of requests for paid bail bondsman leave in 2025, surpassing mothers for the first time.
Dania Maxwell for NPR
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Dania Maxwell for NPR
Campana said that at first he wasn’t sure if he should take paternity leave because of ongoing gender stereotypes.
“I felt guilty, for sure,” Campana said. “I think maybe fathers feel like they have to be providers. They have to be the ones who help their family just by bringing in money or working.”
Campana said that when he was growing up, his father worked three jobs. “It was hard for him to be present, and I think that’s the only thing now — it’s like, ‘No, be present. Be there for your kids.'”
Research has shown that paternity leave confers benefits beyond extra time for a father to bond with a new child: it has positive effects on the entire family, including better health outcomes for both parents.
Paid parental leave has also been linked to a decreased risk of postpartum depression and decreased infant mortality rates.
In California, men made up 51% of bail applications filed in 2025. This is a massive change from when the state program launched in 2004, and men made up about 18% of bail applications.
States fund their paid family and medical leave programs with different combinations of employer and employee contributions; California is one of six states where family leave is entirely funded by employee payroll deductions.
Karlo Campana poses for a portrait with his wife Lily and their three children (from left) Gianna, Gianluca and Giselle.
Dania Maxwell for NPR
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Dania Maxwell for NPR
In addition to changing gender norms, Williamson said other factors are likely contributing to the increase in men’s claims in the state: greater awareness of the program and recent changes in benefits.
In 2025, the state increased the amount of income a worker can collect during family leave. Now, in California and other states, leave benefits can be up to 90% of their regular pay.
“It makes it a realistic option for a lot more families, and I think we’re seeing fathers and mothers responding to this change,” Williamson said. Still, she says, there’s a lot the new data on fathers doesn’t tell us.
“We get a particular perspective on this data that is useful and valuable, but it only tells us part of the story, and we would need other types of information to better understand the bigger picture,” Williamson said.
“Are more dads working and therefore potentially eligible for these benefits? Are women choosing not to take leave?”
Although private employers may offer their own paid leave as a benefit, this data also only reflects individuals who took leave through California’s Paid Family Leave program.
Karlo Campana washes Giselle’s hands after dinner on October 12 at his home in Santa Ana, California. “My wife doesn’t do it alone,” he said of his decision to take paid leave from her job after the birth of their third child. “She doesn’t feel alone on this journey. She feels like she has support.”
Dania Maxwell for NPR
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Dania Maxwell for NPR
A spokesperson for the California Employment Development Department, which administers the state’s family leave program, said the department could not provide definitive reasons for the increase in men’s bond applications.
One thing is clear: Growth in these states comes as more parents feel economically struggling.
President Trump declared, “We want more babies” and promoted policy initiatives such as expanding access to in vitro fertilization and offering investment accounts for newborns.
“People are really, really concerned about the affordability of children,” said Jeremy Pope, a political science professor at Brigham Young University and principal investigator of the American Family Survey.
Karlo Campana plays with his new son Gianluca while his wife Lily prepares dinner in Santa Ana, California. “You need that adjustment period,” he said.
Dania Maxwell for NPR
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Dania Maxwell for NPR
According to the latest survey conducted in 2025, 7 in 10 Americans said raising children had become unaffordable. This is the largest one-year increase since the survey began more than a decade ago.
“I don’t think they want the government involved in the decision to have children,” Pope said. “But they are very concerned about the cost and would like to find ways to reduce those costs or get help to cover them.”
The Pew Research Center found in a recent survey of full-time, non-self-employed working parents that 84 percent said paid parental, family or medical leave would be “extremely or very helpful” to them, but only half said they had access to it.
This story comes from NPR’s health reporting partnership with LAiste And KFF Health News.
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