Au Pair Are More Affordable Than Daycare & Nannies

The concept of au pairs as an affordable childcare choice is increasing because of the depressed economy!

Numbers don't lie - most agencies are experiencing a recent uptick from families who are interested in making the switch to au pairs from both daycare facilities and private nannies.

Why? Affordability! Costs seem to be driving the recent trend. Au pairs are, overall, more affordable compared to daycare and nannnies. Daycare fees have risen to keep pace with inflation and the costs of running a business - salary increases, high rents, heating, etc., keep daycare costs high. With an au pair, there is no "overhead" costs and they care for multiple children - daycare centers will charge a family for each child and charge for "overtime" if you are running late from work, etc.

Private nannnies are expensive, let's face it! Professional nannies are worth the money they command, but most working families cannot afford them. Working and middle class families, who can no longer pay for good daycare because of rising costs, cannot hire a nanny at $500 - $700 a week. Nannies can be live-in, but most are not and they will also charge you for staying late, and they base their weekly salary on the number of children you have.

Au Pair in America conducted a survey that showed prior to joining Au Pair in America, "37 percent of host families had used a nanny and 25 percent had used daycare. These numbers support a trend that families are turning to the most cost effective child care option: au pairs."

In addition to Affordability, Safety is a major concern for parents.

William Gertz, CEO and President of the American Institute For Foreign Study (AIFS) said "The average cost of the au pair program is $309 per week whether you have one or four children. Families tell us that this form of childcare - a fixed weekly cost - is better than childcare facilities, which often have a spotty record."

We agree with Mr. Gertz and we have reported here before on the state of daycare in America. In researching both daycare and au pair care online, we find 10-20 disturbing stories of abuse, neglect and deaths that occur daily in these facilities, yet we find no similar stories concerning au pairs.

These daycare statistics combined with au pair care's affordability is good news for the au pair agencies which have seen an increase is interest from new host parents:

Cultural Care, the largest of the American au pair agencies, experienced an increase of over 49% in traffic last month and Au Pair Care is seeing a dramatic upswing in vistors, with over 245% increase in visitors! (Demember, 2010, http://siteanalytics.compete.com/culturalcare.com+aupaircare.com/).

In addition to saving dollars allocated for childcare, families enjoy the icing on the cake: cultural exchange introduces new and wordly experience and knowledge into their lives.

“Having an au pair gives our three children the most consistent care at the best price,” said Suzy Cooke, a host mother from Washington, D.C. Cooke and her family have been with Au Pair in America since 2005, and their current au pair, Katherine, is from Germany.

“We have all benefited from the cultural exchange in ways we didn't originally anticipate. Experiencing how people from other countries interact with us and our friends and relatives, makes us more welcoming, sharing, patient, tolerant and loving as a family. Having au pairs care for our children has been a great experience for all of us.”

Read more about au pairs here:

Are Au Pairs a Safe Childcare Choice?

Getting Started with Au Pairs

To read more about au pair costs, visit our Au Pair Agency Discounts page!

By Bella Gioia, Research & Evaluation Director

In July 2009, host parents rated their Top Three Au Pair Agenices. Host parents from across the nation completed a Customer Satisfaction Survey. Below is a brief summary of the Overall Customer Service ratings for each of the following agencies:

Au Pair Care (http://www.aupaircare.com/)

The majority (70%) of Au Pair Care host parents rate their Customer Service as Excellent.

Written comments are very favorable and reflect strong customer support.

Examples: "My questions are answered in a timely and professional manner. I feel like AuPairCare supports the host family and the au pair," "Amazing service! My area director really cares about the success of our family," "We investigated all 3 in December and found a big difference between Au Pair Care's customer service and the other 2 - and I'm not exaggerating!"

Expert Au Pair (http://www.expertaupair.com)

ExpertAuPair jumped to Number Two despite it small size and main service area in Florida. They continue to provide excellent customer service with the lowest program fees and costs in the country and they have the best medical insurance for au pairs. They are increasing their service areas throughout the country as they continue to improve their website. A big jump for a little company!

Au Pair in America (http://www.aupairinamerica.com/)

Although 46% of Au Pair in America host families rate their Customer Service as Excellent, 27% of families rate the service they received as Poor. Written comments are sparse but favorable. Examples: "very responsive via email," "Our counselor is outstanding and the office in Stamford has always be very responsive," "...a little extra money, but well worth it. My family could not be happier."

Cultural Care (http://www.culturalcare.com/)

Cultural Care has the highest percentage of negative ratings ("Fair - Poor"). They also have the most negative written comments.

The comments reflect host parents' frustrations with the following areas:

1. Poorly Screened Au Pairs: (ex., "They allow by policy, au pairs to use family and friends as references. They rated our au pair as a 7 out of 7 {the best} for written and spoken English but she was unable to understand anything except hand signals")

2. Poor Customer Service Once a Match was Completed: (ex., "Cultural Care is Very aggressive 'selling' an au pair to you, but after you pay the ENTIRE fee up front, their customer support disappears. When you need help or have fairly serious problems with your au pair, the LCC and Home offices of Cultural care are extremely slow to respond. VERY Poor customer service")

3. Difficulty Getting Refunds: (ex., "After having a poor experience with my au pair, the hassle it took to get my refund has made me swear I will never host a cultural care au pair again")

Since the above survey results were posted, we have been collecting host parent ratings for 2010. Our latest survey includes all 12 au pair agencies in the U.S.A. If you have not yet rated your agency, please consider doing that now - it is a very short survey and will take 1-2 minutes!

Please take our newest survey! Your feedback is very important to us and to all parents who are considering the au pair program:

Click here to take survey

Thank you very much for your input!

Getting Started With Au Pairs - An Educated Parent Makes the Best Childcare Consumer

Working parents are responsible for choosing the best childcare for their children. Today, with 2 paycheck families, we cannot get by with the help of family and friends - parents need reliable, cost-effective and convenient childcare. Most of us today need full-time childcare.

As a parent, it is your responsibility to ensure that your child is safe and happy in a childcare environment that is both safe and nurturing.

Not all childcare options are the same - there are safety issues, regulations to consider and, of course, cost. When you compare the 3 most popular childcare choices, au pair care is the most affordable option.

However, not all au pair agencies are the same. We make your search for the best au pair agency easy - let us do the work for you! Do your homework before you sign on the dotted line!

Three Most Popular Childcare Choices Available Today:

Day Care Centers

Pros: USA Today reported (2010) that over 19% of children are enrolled in center-based childcare centers. Fees are calculated per child and most daycare centers are usually reasonable for the average family's budget, but only if you do not have more than 2 children. Parents like the idea that their child will be supervised and cared for by multiple caregivers and the hours of operation cover the traditional, 8-9 hour work schedule.

Cons: Screening of daycare workers varies greatly from one state to another. Most daycare centers are not required to administer a psychometric test that has to be implemented in all legal au pair agencies. Psychometric tests can flag poor judgment, propensity for drug and alcohol addictions, immaturity and more.

Costs may be high depending on your area and if you have multiple children (daycare charges per child), daycare can be very expensive! The average cost is about $200 per week, per child or $800 a month. You have to deliver and pick up your children and if you are late at pick-up, you may be charged extra.

For parents who do work over the traditional 8 hour a day job, daycare can be very expensive and inconvenient. In addition, if you child is sick, you cannot drop them off and then you stay home with your child. If you need coverage on weekends, you will spend extra $$$ for a babysitter.

Costs for Daycare: Daycare charges per child. The average cost can run from $675 - $800 per month, per child.

Nannies

Pros: The great thing about a nanny is the "in-home" care they provide. Most parents like the idea their child is at home and they don't have to drive to daycare twice a day. In addition, with a nanny at home, if the child is sick, no problem!

Parents also enjoy the flexibility a nanny brings to their family - not only will a nanny care for your child, they can cook, clean and do the child's laundry! A real bonus for busy parents! Nannies tend to be older, more mature and have more experience caring for children compared to many daycare workers and au pairs.

Cons: Unless you hire an nanny through a reputable agency, their experience can vary greatly - and they may not be licensed as a "professional" nanny. Today, in our hard economic times, parents are more willing to hire anyone with some experience who call themselves "nannies." If you do hire through an accredited and licensed daycare center, you will pay top dollar! Nannies also charge per child. The high cost of nannies continue to be prohibitive to most working families.

Many nannies today do not live-in. If you nanny does not live in, you also lose the flexibility of coverage at the end of the work day and on weekends. In addition, most nannies will charge you more if they work "overtime." In addition, most nannies will not work more than 9 hours a day.

Costs for a Nanny: Average costs can range between $300 - $700 a week or $1200 - $2800 a month.

Au Pairs

Pros: Au pairs provide up to 45 hours of childcare a week, and up to 10 hours a day. Having a live-in caregiver, who provides individualized care for their children, is a great feature for working parents! Au pairs are available nights, weekends and are energetic and loving caregivers who get to know your children and you entire family while providing a cultural experience for all to enjoy.

In addition, you pay the same amount no matter how many children you have! Your children have the advantage of experiencing another culture and possibly learning another language. Many upscale American parents hire Chinese au pairs in order to introduce Mandarin to their young children. USA Today's statistics show more than 23,000 American children are learning Chinese (2010).

Au pairs are young, eager and are willing to do things with your child that an older nanny might frown upon and daycare cannot provide: day trips to museums and library events, zoos, hiking, parks and daily walks in the neighborhood.

Cons: Looking for the right agency can be confusing - all their websites and literature pretty much say the same thing. Only recently can parents read reviews and ratings of the 12 legal agencies that operate in this country. Parents also need to make sure they understand the cultural exchange program and the needs of the au pair. She wants to attend college and make friends and do some traveling in her year abroad. She is often young and inexperienced - you as the parent are ultimately responsible for assessing her driving abilities, language skills and childcare experience!

Are you ready for a young person to join your home as an "equal" or as an family member? Are you ready to supervise an 18, 19 or 20 year-old? There are hard questions you must ask yourself before you hire an au pair.

Costs for an Au Pair: Au pair agencies charge program fees, in addition to the yearly stipend you pay the au pair (total: $10, 179.00). Agency fees start at $5,600 and cap at $9000. You have to do your homework online to compare the best prices.

On average, an au pair will cost between $300 - $370 a week. An au pair starts at $300 per week, and that is based on one family, not per child.

Do Your Homework Before You Choose Childcare

What ever kind of childcare you choose, you are ultimately responsible for checking references, childcare experience and interviewing each daycare center, au pair or nanny before you sign on the dotted line. Doing your homework, gathering as much information as you can on each option is easier than ever today with the Internet.

What can be difficult is parents have too many choices! So many daycare centers, nannies and au pair agencies! It is easy to become overwhelmed with so many choices - take the time to do your research and then imagine each option. What feels right? What makes the most sense, financially for your family? What best fits your schedule?

If you do choose to join the cultural exchange program and welcome an au pair into your home, make sure you carefully compare and examine each of the 12 au pair agencies and their different fees; unique features and specialized programs! No two au pair agencies are alike!

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Would you like to know which agency is rated the BEST by host parents? Do you want to know what the experts say about interviewing an au pair? Choosing an au pair agency? If yes, read this before you host an au pair!

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Hosting Au Pairs - Are You Ready?

Hosting au pairs is not an easy task by no means. Finding a great agency, interviewing childcare givers over the phone (blind if you don't use Skype) and opening your home to a stranger for a year to care for your child is a huge leap of faith.

Thousands of American families take that leap of faith each year when they welcome a new au pair into their families. Why? Because the au pair program is affordable and it works very well (when all the pieces fall in place, like a puzzle).

Why do some parents get it right while others do not? Parents make bad choices every year and the family and au pair go into "rematch" - the word that strikes fear and consternation in every counselor's heart when she/he hears it!

Families that make good decisions and stay in the program for years are doing something right and one main factor is they make Educated Choices each and every time. Yes, sometimes things fall short and they have a rematch, that is life and we all are thrown curve balls once in a while, and we deal with it and move on.

Successful host families are alike and make decisions in a similar way.

They go about the process in a systematic manner that increases the likelihood of success - we measure success in the cultural program by good, solid matches with great au pairs that stay for their 12 months (and sometimes they extend for another 12 months).

Who are these successful host families?

When you look at the demographics of who uses au pair agencies (who typically picks the agency, interviews au pairs, matches and supervises the au pair in the home) you see there is a majority group with these common characteristics:

• Professional Women
• Full-Time Careers
• College Educated (at least 4 years or more)
• Between the ages of 30-52
• Who have Two or More Children

What makes these women Unique as a Group?

They are professional women, with at least 4 years of college - they are highly educated as a group. Educated people usually make good, sound choices because they are typically logical, systematic and well-rounded. They know a lot about many things. They may be quite familiar with traveling abroad, speak another language and have taken several history courses and world civilization classes.

Armed with a college degree, travel and exposure to a broader world view, when this group begins their search for an au pair, they approach it the same way they do with everything in their life - research and education. Find out as much as one can about a subject, compare and contrast different agencies, look at costs and focus on quality.

They Experiment! They do their Research! They make choices based on fact, not on marketing ads.

Well-educated parents who start out looking for an au pair will call several agencies at one time - they may sign up and start receiving applications from 2 or 3 different agencies. They are trying out the system and sampling the "goods" of an industry and they will make decisions based on how and what the different programs deliver.

Let me share one experience a host mom had and shared with us when she took our 2010 Host Family Satisfaction Survey:

"I was new to the au pair program and I applied to 2 agencies at the same time (they both waived the application fees). I placed calls and emails to both on the same day. 24 hours later, one agency answered by sending me an form to fill out with a focus on our family needs so they could start sending me au pair applications right away. I completed that, sent it in and started receiving au pair applications the same day! Their counselor then called and made an appointment for a family interview that took place 2 days later. During the interview, the LCC matched us with an au pair from Germany! A week after we matched, the other agency called and we told them we were already matched. We knew they didn't really care one way or another because they didn't apologize for the delay in getting back to us!"

This same agency continues to advertise themselves as the "largest, oldest agency" with "quality service and au pairs."

Educated parents are drawn to quality service and quick response time.

Educated parents know the agency's quick response time tells them positive something about the program, but they also know to check out all features of an agency and not just base their perception of the agency just on a quick "sales call."

Host families that do their homework before they sign up with an agency get the best results when they are finally ready to hire an au pair. It really is true that Educated parents make the best childcare choices - we see and hear about their success everyday at the Clearinghouse.

If you are a new parent thinking about hosting an au pair - do your research first!

Not all au pair agencies are the same. Read our article on Getting Started with Au Pairs first so you get your direction and plant your feet squarely on the success track to finding and hosting a great au pair today!