As a former Au Pair Host Mother and Community Counselor I encourage all
families that are looking into getting an Au-Pair to seriously research
the Agency that you are going to work with. Through the years I have
noticed many new agencies pop up online. A quote from IAPA
(International Au Pair Association) shares my concern, “Newspaper,
internet advertisements or one of the many web-based matching services
may appear to be acceptable and inexpensive alternatives for securing
an au pair placement. There are, however, potential risks in arranging
a placement in this manner." I offer you words of caution and suggest
you make a checklist before signing on with an Agency.
Checklist:
Be sure they are a federally designated agency. To date there are only Eleven such Agencies.
Be sure they allow you to interview your candidates and not THEM
doing the match for you. Some allow only 1-2 candidates, while other
agencies allow you to sift through their entire database so that you
can be the one making the decision.
PLEASE make sure that the agency you go with has health insurance for the au pairs!!!!!! SOME DO NOT!!!!!!!!
Check with IAPA (International Au Pair Association) for pertinent
information about guidelines for hosting or becoming an Au Pair in the
United States.
Be prepared to help your Au Pair attend approximately 3 classes
during the year they are here. This can be a challenge to find classes
within the federally allotted funds by the Government so do your
homework.
Do they offer an extended program for Au-Pair's if they want to
stay for more than one year? Some Agencies now offer an extension
program that allows the Au-Pairs to stay longer than a year. Please
check out the pros-cons for this.
Be sure they offer training for the girls before they step foot in your home.
If you have a child under 2, the Government requires higher
trained individuals to care for your child, please check that the
agency you choose differentiates their candidates for under 2 childcare.
Make sure a Criminal Background check is done by the AGENCY or an affilliated partner.
Who Interviews the candidates before you actually get to speak to
them. Some agencies will take any girls that sign up? It is pertinent
that they go through a screening process before being approved by an
agency.
Does the agency actually check references? Are you allowed to see them and follow up on your own?
Have the individuals been thoroughly screened by a health care provider? Are you allowed to see these records?
Be sure to ask that you can view all of the information about the
candidate that they agency has on record. If they do not have it or
will not show it to you then something is amiss.
How long has the Agency been in business?
Do they offer any referrals of their own?
Are these things included in your cost:
Round Trip Airfare
Health Insurance
Background checks
References
Health Screening Check
In-Depth Interviews
Development and Safety Instruction
Is there a community counselor in your area? It is so important
for the Au Pairs to have a physical support system close to them.
Are there many other Au Pairs close to you?
Does the Agency assist Au Pairs to get the appropriate Visa?
Do they mandate and require certain Visa's before accepting them into the program?
It is always best to do your homework before delving into
something that can affect your children and your entire family. Au
Pair's are wonderful additions to families and can be the best
experience in the world, BUT, if you don't do your homework it can be a
nightmare. If you have any specific questions that you feel I can
assist you with, please feel free to contact me and I will do my best
to answer.
I was a Host Mother for 4 years and the Au Pairs were from Spain,
Germany, Canada and Turkey. I have 4 children (three of whom are
triplets). I was then a Volunteer Community Counselor an additional 2
years. I will not name the organization I was working with but will
attempt to educate the public in many aspects of this realm of
Child-Care.
More information can easily be found by running a search under the term "Au Pair"
» left by Anonymous (1 year 2 days ago.)
I have found a family throught online matching system I checked references used my instinct and everything worked for me perfectly. I think you may get bad au pair or family either from an agency or from matching system, there is many factors. But I would recommed online matching system. It is easy, fast and the most important it is cheap Respond to this comment
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 View other articles written by Bootsey(21)
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