Au Pair Agency Websites - Winners & Losers

We often receive email questions from parents who are dismayed by their efforts to get and find information on au pair agency websites.

Here is a typical email:

"Dear Au Pair Clearinghouse, why is it that many of the au pair sites, in business for 20 years and more, don't have good, functional websites? Some of the sites are so basic and outdated, I click away, because they don't even look 'legit' - in these days, when everyone including their grandmother, is virtual and on the internet, why would companies like this, who deal with parents looking for something as important as childcare, skimp on their websites?" Host Dad in Vermont

A Company's Website is Worth a Thousand Words

I have to agree with this host dad! It is true that many, if not most, of the 14 au pair agency websites lack essential information and resources. This makes researching au pairs/agencies very difficult and frustrating!

For example, many sites do not have a Host Family Resource page, where you can read about the au pair program, what an au pair is, what is involved in hosting an au pair, etc. Agency Program Fees are also difficult to find on au pair agency websites!

Au pair agency Website Reviews are all part of our comprehensive reviews and ratings of all 14 agencies in the United States. We call agencies, we rate their phone service, we visit their sites daily, clicking around to research material on au pairs and hosting au pairs, asking questions like, "how easy/hard is it to find costs, au pairs by nationality, matching/placement time frames, etc."

All of these searches really comes down to how efficient and streamlined an au pair agency's website is. A small handful of au pair agencies have updated their websites in the last 3 years:

• GoAuPair has a colorful, user-friendly site that is chock-full of helpful and useful information and they recently added new features, such as Au Pair Statistics, Country of the Month (where they feature different nationalities) and a fun and informative Blog.
• Cultural Care has one of the better sites, very professional looking, fast and easy to navigate, with their very popular Au Pair Answer Mom videos, featuring Susan Robinson, the "Martha Stewart" of the "how-to-guide video blog" on everything au pairs.
• Au Pair Care has a great site that has been recognized for its ease in finding and matching with the au pair that fits your childcare needs. They were the recipients of tech 2006 CIO 100 Award, in recognition of the highest level of strategic excellence in information technology. You can read more about the award here. Au Pair Care's advanced search option allows host families to search by multiple criteria, including education of au pair, child care qualifications, language & driving skills, hobbies and more. After that award, several of the larger agencies rolled out their own online search features!

You can read more about au pair agency performance on matching by viewing host parents ratings here.

What About Agencies that Don't Deliver User-Friendly Matching Services?

Some agencies are hard pressed to deliver fast and useful information at critical service points - many of our host parents complained about the slow turn around time at Au Pair in America, beginning with ease of viewing applicants online:

• Au Pair in America: The majority of host parents were only “somewhat satisfied” (72%) and the major complaint was the length of time it took to receive applications and to finally match with an au pair. The other complaints were the slowness of the program to get the family started on viewing applications, getting applications, and matching and receiving “dead leads” (i.e., host parents who are assigned au pairs that have already been matched with another family).

“I would go through the 3 applications they released to me, and find only one appropriate for my needs. Once I called and rejected the au pair based on the interview, I would ask for more applications. I don’t know why, but the office staff was very slow to release more au pair applications to me. It was one of the reasons I finally switched out of Au Pair in America.” Host Parent Survey Respondent

“We signed up with 3 agencies all at once, all at the same time. Cultural Care sent out a counselor that weekend, Au Pair Care scheduled a meeting for Monday evening, and we never heard back from Au Pair in America until after we signed up and starting interviewing through Cultural Care! Au Pair in America were late getting to us and as business man, if I did this with my customers, I would never make any money.” Host Parent Survey Respondent

We also have a recommended list of au pair/host family resources that include au pair agency specific resources, but other sources as well, including books, blogs and other online au pair resources. Read our Host Family Tips page for lots of essential and expert advice on finding and matching with a great au pair.

Let us know what favorite au pair or host family resource you use!