Au Pair of the Year Award - 2012

AU PAIR OF THE YEAR AWARD 2012

It Is That Time of Year Again!

Most American au pair agencies are members of the International Au Pair Association (IAPA) and are annually invited to participate in their search for the "Au Pair of the Year Award." This is a great opportunity to showcase the unique experiences of the au pair program!

How does it work? If your agency is an IAPA Member in good standing, they will receive permission to begin to send in candidates. Host families are encouraged to submit their au pairs and a letter outlining why they think their au pair should be nominated for Au Pair of the Year Award.

A selection panel will select one winning au pair that will be required to attend (all expenses paid) the award ceremony which will take place during the IAPA Annual Conference and Work Experience Travel Market in Budapest, Hungary, March 2012.

If you think you have a terrific au pair and would like to nominate her/him, please check to see if your agency is an IAPA member!

Read the winners of this prestigious award for the past several years. Winners are from all around the world! Click here now to read the entire list of Au Pair Winners

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AU PAIR OF THE YEAR 2011

Luna Vazquez de la Rosa is the Au Pair of the Year for 2011!

The Au Pair of the Year 2011 is Ms Luna Vazquez de la Rosa, a 20 year-old Spanish native.


She was given the honour during the annual Welcome Reception of WETM-IAC on Wednesday, March 16th.

Luna was hosted by the Packham family in Hove, UK, for a period of 9 months. The receiving organisation is "The Childcare Company” from the UK and the sender is International Au Pair and Language Abroad Group form Spain.

The award was given to Luna by Mr. Jack Hompes, IAPA chairperson, in the beautiful "De Munt” theater in Brussels.

Other finalists for the Au Pair of the Year were Nadine Kuehlkamp from Germany (Au Pair Ecosse) and Melanie Bluhm from Germany (EurAupair Intercultural Child Care Programs).

Said the Packham family: "There really is no better au pair experience than the one our family had with Luna. We were so very blessed. We have the most amazing memories of Luna's stay with us and a family friend for life."

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AU PAIR OF THE YEAR AWARD 2010

Au Pair USA Au Pair Agency USA Winner!




Congratulations to Mayumi Yano (Japan),
 2010 Au Pair of the Year!

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AU PAIR OF THE YEAR AWARD 2009

Cultural Care Au Pair Agency USA Winner!

TOP TIPS - Working with Your Au Pair Agency Placement Staff

Work Closely with your Agency's Placement Coordinator

Every agency has a placement staff to assist parents with au pair applications and matching. You might be assigned to work with one person, depending on your agency's procedures. Working with your placement counselor is KEY in getting the applications you want to review before you interview an au pair!

Follow these Top Tips and to ensure that you and your placement coordinator are on the same page:

#1. Gatekeepers to Au Pair Applications

Spend time to develop a good, friendly working relationship with the placement staff at your agency.

They punish parents who treat them poorly - either by not giving you any applications in hope that you will switch to another agency, or they will sabotage your efforts to get a great au pair by withholding quality applications! Agencies know that if host parents treat their staff badly, they might do the same with their au pairs - so this part of the process becomes part of the host family screening process.

Make your placement counselor your new best friend - a cordial, friendly relationship will reap benefits that you need to match with a great au pair.

#2. Slow Boat to China

Some agencies are slow to respond to a family's urgent need for immediate childcare and they will not release enough applications fast enough for you to review.

If you have tried to get more applications and help (and you have been consistently friendly and pleasant), but are beginning to feel you are stuck on a slow boat to China, tell your local counselor or LCC to intervene on your behalf.

That usually does the trick!

#3. Reminders Are Key to Better, Faster Matching

Don't assume your placement counselor knows 'exactly' what you are looking for in an au pair - they have your application, which lists your preferences, but they often do not bother to read this.

Send them email reminders and leave phone messages reiterating what your top preferences are (example, driving, German, good English). Leave up to 3 reminders, any more and you might be labeled as a 'difficult' host parent...

Remember, a squeaky wheel does get the grease, but only in moderation!

#4. A Good Match Depends on Quality Au Pairs

Be honest and upfront with the placement office - if you are busy and don't have time to review lots of useless applications, have a frank conversation with the placement counselor.

Tell her how busy your job is and how time is scarce. Make sure she knows how important it is to you to receive top, quaility applications for your review - this can cut your matching time in half!

To read more about matching, read our Matching Services Ratings by Agency

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!

From www.bestaupairguide.com's author, Talya Shoup

P.E.A.P.

Prevent Exploitation of Au Pairs

My friend and colleague, Edina Stone, of Au Pair Clearinghouse, and I have started a new support organization alled P.E.A.P. (Prevent Exlpoitation of Au Pairs).

We’ve founded P.E.A.P. in response to the recent story of a German au pair who was allegedly abused by her host father. This case is not the first and will certainly not be the last, instance of au pairs being mistreated. We are here to help prevent such abuse.

Au pairs are in a very vulnerable position. While most host families are safe, loving, and welcoming, the occassional host family’s home is not a place where au pairs are treated as they should be. In addition, some au pairs are tricked into believing they will work as au pairs, when in fact they end up as victims of human trafficking.

With P.E.A.P., we hope to be an advocacy group for au pairs. Our goal is to be the voice for au pairs who have been abused, exploited, or harrassed.

Our mission:

To serve as an advocate for au pairs in the United States and abroad, to help prevent abuse and to support au pairs who have been exploited.

Our guiding principles:

Au Pairs’ Right to Safety and Well-being – Au Pairs have a right to freedom from sexual, physical, emotional and occupational abuse.

Focus on the Au Pair Community and Au Pair Industry – Programs focus on global au pair communities and the au pair industry that represents, recruits, hires and places au pairs in host families. By promoting the need for educational programs, we challenge and support au pair agencies & au pair organizations to take responsibility for the prevention of au pair abuse.

Support for Victims of Abuse - Au pairs are encouraged to share their stories so others can learn from their experiences. Sharing stories of abuse raise awareness. Sharing stories of abuse can be personally and emotionally healing.

If you are an au pair who needs to report abuse or would like to share your story, please email us at preventexploitationaupairs@gmail.com.

To keep up with what is happening with Prevent Exploitation of Au Pairs, including news and updates, please visit our Facebook page.

P.E.A.P. - Prevent Exploitation of Au Pairs

This story was very disturbing and we are following it at www.aupairclearinghouse.com, the nation's first and only website that reviews and rates all au pair agencies in the United States.

As a result of this story, my friend and colleague, Talya Shoup (www.bestaupairguide.com), started P.E.A.P., Prevent Exploitation of Au Pairs.

You can find us on facebook:

Prevent Exploitation of Au Pairs - P.E.A.P.

Please visit our au pair abuse awareness organization and "like" us and share our page with all the au pairs and host parents in your life!

Thank you!

Edina Stone, Founder & CEO
www.aupairclearinghouse.com

In Unsafe Hands - Au Pairs At Risk

WILLAMETTE NEWS
October 26 2011 Shaw Healey/NEWS
In Unsafe Hands

After sex abuse charges, a Lake Oswego au pair agency denies placing a woman in harm’s way.

She was 18 when she came to Oregon from Germany as an au pair and moved in with an Intel manager and his family in September 2010. She agreed to provide live-in child care so she could go to school and have an enriching cultural experience.

But the young woman says she instead fought off the host father when he touched her breasts and put his hand between her legs. She fled the house and told the police.

Back in Germany, she filed a lawsuit Oct. 5 in Multnomah County Circuit Court, accusing a Lake Oswego au pair placement agency of negligence and fraud.

The suit alleges that US Au Pair Inc. and its owner, Helene Young, knew two previous au pairs had reported sexual advances made by the father, Ashish Gupta.

The suit says Young didn’t warn the German woman about Gupta before placing her in his home. The suit—seeking $990,000 in damages—says the woman, now 19, later became suicidal.

Experts say this is the first lawsuit of its kind in the U.S., and it reveals how au pairs lack adequate protection from abuse.

Gupta declined to talk to WW for this story. Young, whose firm was paid $6,000 by Gupta for the placement, denied the allegations.

“There is no basis for the charges,” she says. “They are totally unfounded. Anyone who knows me and my organization knows that what is being said is not true.”

The U.S. State Department says its au pair program is “a mutually rewarding, intercultural opportunity” for young people (typically women) aged 18 to 26 to study here while working for and living with a host family.

The State Department has approved 14 au pair placement agencies in the U.S., and ensures au pairs get 32 hours of training in first aid, child development, cultural awareness and other issues.

What they don’t get, placement agencies say, is training on how to deal with sexual harassment.

Edina Stone, founder and CEO of Au Pair Clearinghouse, an online advocacy group, says it’s not easy for au pairs to speak up when things go wrong.

“The au pair agencies have pretty much depended on the fact that these girls are young and foreign,” Stone says. “They’re here alone, and they don’t know how to get legal representation.

“The German au pair did the right thing by bringing the lawsuit, because it’s the agency’s responsibility to make sure they’re screening both sides of the contract.”

The lawsuit says US Au Pair’s Young told the German woman’s father that “the Gupta family had a few au pairs working with them in the past, there had been no problems reported, and the au pairs had enjoyed their experience.”

Records obtained by WW show that police turned up a very different story.

Washington County sheriff’s investigators found notes in US Au Pair’s files showing that an au pair in 2009 reported that Gupta had asked if she was a virgin and said he wanted to see her in a bikini.

An investigator interviewed another au pair who said Gupta in 2008 rubbed her thigh and back, told her to leave her bedroom door open, and came into her room and lay down in bed next to her. She reported his behavior to US Au Pair staff, the sheriff’s report says, and says Gupta had tried to punish her by refusing to let her attend school.

The German au pair said Gupta touched her inappropriately on five occasions, and that she was initially too scared to say anything when Gupta put his hand between her legs while they sat on a couch.

At one point, she said, he grabbed her bottom. “She was shocked,” the sheriff’s report says, “and [he] then asked, ‘Can I touch it again?’ and she said ‘No.’ He then said, ‘Can I at least smack it?’ and she said ‘No.’ She said he then laughed and made fun of it afterward.”

She said she resisted when Gupta kissed her neck and touched her breasts; when she rejected him, Gupta cut her pay and denied her use of the family’s car.

When a sheriff’s investigator interviewed him, Gupta denied any wrongdoing. He told the investigator that he gave the au pair back rubs, adding, “where he works at Intel, it is common for people to give each other shoulder massages.”

The Washington County District Attorney’s Office charged Gupta in January with one count each of sexual abuse and harassment, both misdemeanors. Gupta pleaded not guilty and hired Stephen Houze, a well-known Portland criminal attorney.

The DA dropped the case after the au pair and Gupta reached a civil compromise—a confidential agreement that she wouldn’t pursue the case. Gupta is trying to get the record expunged.

Rayney Meisel, Washington County deputy district attorney, says her office didn’t agree with the deal but didn’t fight it. (The settlement didn’t include US Au Pair.)

“The victim was in Germany, and it would have taken a lot for her to be able to come out here,” Meisel says. “A civil compromise was a better situation for her.”

Au Pair Clearinghouse’s Stone hopes the case will encourage placement agencies to screen host families more thoroughly and give au pairs sexual harassment training.

“There should be an awareness campaign that says if you are abused, if your host parent does something to make you feel uncomfortable, you need to document it,” Stone says. “That’s what the agencies should be doing.”

Expert Au Pair Author Responds to US Au Pair Law Suit

My good friend, Talya Shoup, sent me her response to the breaking story of an au pair who is suing US Au Pair Agency. Talya Shoup is an author and editor of the popular au pair blog, Best Au Pair Guide, where she dispenses expert advice and top tips for young people who want to become an au pair!

Edina, the recent news of the German au pair, Amely Mae Conrad, suing her former au pair agency, US Au Pair, and its representative, Helene Young, for fraud, negligence, and sexual harassment is indeed big news. Of course, it is always best to hear both sides of a story before making a judgment call, but I would say that there are some things in this story that make me doubtful that the au pair agency in question, US Au Pair, is entirely without guilt in this situation.

It appears that the host father in question, who, according to the au pair filing the lawsuit, sexually harassed and assaulted her on more than one occasion. It seems that when she rejected his advances, he became angry an forced her to work more while docking her pay and saying abusive things.

This entire situation is disturbing, as au pairs are in such a vulnerable position. They are living with strangers in a foreign country, without family or the usual support system from home, and they often don't entirely know the new culture or home. Au pairs also tend to be very young, in their late teens or early 20s, making them all the more vulnerable.

If the agency in question is guilty as charged, and the host father did do the things that the au pair claims, then there were some major mistakes made.

Two other au pairs had been forced to leave this same family because of the father's horrid behavior. There should never have been more than one story like this - after one legitimate complaint of something of this nature, the family should not be allowed to host more au pairs. This should have never happened to more than one girl with the same family.

Of course, a trial will reveal more about the case, and hopefully the agency and its representative will be able to speak for themselves. If all that was accused is true, I hope they have excellent attorneys, because there is no reason that au pairs should be subjected to any sort of inappropriate sexual advances from their host families.

And for all au pairs - those working as au pairs and those who are interested in possibly being au pairs - must be cautious and aware of the sort of host parents they are working for.

Au Pair Safety Tips

I would like to offer the following tips for both prospective au pairs and working au pairs who may find themselves in a similar situation:

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  REPORT INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR: You must report any sort of behavior that makes you feel threatened and unsafe no matter who is involved - yes, that means your host father! Call your parents at home and your host agency.


• 
  TAKE ACTION: If the problem is not remedied immediately by your au pair agency, demand to be moved out of the house and be given a new host family. There is too much at stake to remain in an uncomfortable - and possibly unsafe - situation.


• 
  USE COMMON SENSE: Au pairs also need to use common sense. If a potential host dad asks you sexually suggestive questions before you meet them (such as in this case), major red flags should go off. Host families should have no interest in your private life, and you should not be asked to dress a certain way, do anything outside your defined au pair duties, or be expected to share intimate information. There are plenty of safe, good host families out there needing au pairs, so there is no reason to put yourself at risk by accepting a job with a family who might be questionable.

The main point is to pay attention to any potential warning signs and to stand up for yourself. Always. And if you do find yourself in a situation with a questionable host family and an agency who won't do anything to help you, the police are always there. Better to be safe than sorry in this sort of situation!

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Read the entire story about US Au Pair Agency and the Million Dollar Lawsuit German Au Pair Filed for Sexual Assault and Fraud.

Au Pair Sues Au Pair Agency for 1 Million Dollars Citing Sexual Abuse, Fraud and Sexual Battery

Courthouse News Service. October 7 2011

PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) - A teen-age au pair from Germany claims a placement agency aided and abetted an employer who sexually assaulted her, and that the agency knew or should have known that he had done the same thing to two other women the agency had placed in his home.

Amely Mae Conrad sued US Au Pair and Helene Young for fraud, negligence, sexual harassment and discrimination, sexual assault and battery, aiding and abetting and other charges, in Multnomah County Court.

Conrad, 18, says she contacted US Au Pair after seeing it promote itself on its website "a 'U.S. State Department-designated sponsor'" for au pairs.

During a 2-month process that included meetings with the defendants' partner in Germany, Munich Au Pair, Conrad says Young told her "she had found a wonderful family, the Guptas," for her to work with in the United States."

Young told her that "the Gupta family had passed an extensive background check," and that "the Gupta family had had a few au pairs working with them in the past, there had been no problems reported, and the au pairs had enjoyed their experience of working for the Gupta family," according to the complaint.

But Conrad says the latter statement is a lie, and Young should have known it - that US Au Pair had provided two other au pairs to the Guptas, both of whom were subjected to sexual advances by the father, Ashish Gupta.

In 2008, Conrad says, Gupta asked a German au pair "to send him a photo of herself wearing a bikini" before she arrived and "persisted in asking her about her sex life," after she told him it was none of his business. Gupta also rubbed her bare thigh, "inappropriately" fondled her and prohibited her from attending school, which was one of the main reasons she came to the United States, according to the complaint.

This au pair "finally has to leave the Gupta home because of Mr. Gupta's inappropriate behavior and retaliation for rebuffing his advances," the complaint states.

In 2009 US au pair placed a young woman, also from Germany, with the Guptas. Gupta again annoyed this woman with "very inappropriate and sexually proactive conversation," such as "when she had sex most recently, and the sexual positions she preferred," according to the complaint.

Conrad says Gupta also asked this young woman to go with him on a business trip, and asked "to see her in a bikini. Fed up with Mr. Gupta's inappropriate behavior and sexual advances, (the second au pair) left the Gupta home."

When she arrived at the Guptas' in September 2010, Conrad says, Gupta did the same things to her. She says that "almost immediately, Ashish ('Mr. Gupta') began behaving in ways that made plaintiff, who at the time was only 18 years old, feel very uncomfortable." She says Gupta made her "keep her bedroom door open at all times," repeatedly tried to ply her with alcohol, asked her often "to dress in hot shorts or a bikini," told her "not to change out of her pajamas in the morning," insisted that she let him go with her to a mall, where he told her "that she had a 'cute butt,'" then made her try on a pair of shorts, "squeezed her buttock, and said in a creepy voice, 'this feels good.'"

At this, Conrad says, she "was shocked and pulled away," but Gupta "undeterred, shamelessly asked plaintiff if her could 'smack' her buttock. Plaintiff, in horror and disbelief, loudly said no and walked away from him."

She says Gupta continued to molest her though mid-October in his home, sexually pawing her, kissing her "suddenly" without her consent, and trying to fondle her breasts and genitals. She says his molestations made her "devastated, embarrassed" and that afterward she "cried herself to sleep."

She said she repeatedly objected to his sexual pawings, which made Gupta "very upset, mumbling in anger under his breath."

As she continued to resist, Conrad says, Gupta "became abusive" and "began to mistreat her."

He told her she was doing a poor job and that he and his wife were unhappy with her, he docked her pay, made her work seven days a week, and demanded that she "clean the house, cook, and do other chores that were not part of her employment agreement," Conrad says.

Finally, Conrad called her father in Germany, who contacted US Au Pair through its German partner agency. The next day, Conrad says, defendant Young told her to pack her bags because she was being removed from the Gupta home. She says Young apologized for the harassment she had suffered, and promised to place her in a better home.

Shortly afterward, Conrad says, she found out about a previous au pair who had been "molested and victimized" by Gupta. Upon learning this, she says, she "felt she could no longer trust Young or US Au Pair to place her in a safe and healthy working environment," and returned to Germany, where she suffered "a full blown emotional breakdown and became suicidal."

Conrad demands $999,000 plus punitive damages from Young and the Lake Oswego-based business.
She is represented by Mitra Shahri.
Gupta is not named as a defendant.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/07/40401.htm

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Survey Results Reveal the
3 Top-Rated Au Pair Agencies and the NUMBER One Winner for Overall Excellence!

The Good NEWS!

Looking at the ratings of all agencies combined, our 2010-2011 Host Family Satisfaction Survey shows an increase in overall satisfaction from last year’s survey findings:

• The percentage of top-ratings—“excellent”—given by host parents goes up from 39 percent a year ago to 49 percent in the latest survey!

This is certainly good news appears to reflects a very positive trend for customer service in the au pair industry.

Au pairs are highly affordable and are one of the most popular childcare choices for busy American families.

Finally, there is a better way to find an au pair!

While most au pair agencies receive very favorable customer satisfaction ratings from host parents, there are 3 agencies that receive positive evaluations that are above average and deserve our recognition in our yearly Top 3 Au Pair Agency List!

To read our Top 3 Au Pair Agencies for 2011, click here now!

Educare Au Pairs

Jerry N. from Utah emailed us this question about Educare Au Pairs:

"My children are now 10 & 12. We really don't need a full time au pair. She doesn't have enough to do all day, and we cannot expect her to do the family's laundry and housecleaning. She often sits home all day until 3:00 pm, waiting for the kids to get home from the bus. I am thinking about the Educare program - do you recommend this program?"

Yes Jerry, of course. Let me print out my new article on Educare that I was planning to add on the website by end of this week! Here it is:

Educare Au Pairs Are Great for School-Aged Children

Educare au pairs are just the thing for families with older children! School-aged children, who are in school all day, do not need full-time childcare.

If you have school-aged children and you don't need a full 45 hours of childcare per week, perhaps you can get by with 30 hours of childcare. If this is the case, the good news is, you pay less!

What are the Benefits of an Educare au pair?

• Au pairs participating in the Educare component receive 75 percent of the weekly rate paid to non-Educare participants. You save money with Educare au pairs. For 45 hours of childcare, the stipend for standard au pairs is $195.75 and for Educare au pairs, the stipend is only $146.81.
• Educare au pairs, who provide care for school-aged children, up to 18-years-old, are often more mature, older and academically oriented compared to younger, less mature au pairs.
• Au pairs from the Educare program are ideal for families that require childcare before and after school.

What are the Caveats of the Educare Program?

• Educare au pairs may not be placed with families that have preschool childcare (unless other childcare plans have been made).
• They cannot work more than 10 hours a day and only a maximum of 30 hours per week.
• Au pairs must attend 12 academic credits during the program year (compared to only 6 credits standard au pairs take).
• Educare host families are required to pay the first $1,000 toward the cost of the 12 academic credits during the program year (compared to only $500 education allotment for a standard au pair).

Between 20-30% of all au pairs in the cultural exchange program sign up for the Educare program. Au pairs who enjoy taking college courses appreciate the Educare program - these au pairs are often older and can be characterized as more mature and are more motivated to stay and finish their 12 month program.

Not all au pair agencies have Educare au pairs. Check out our Au Pair Agency Reviews & Ratings to see which agencies qualify.

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Read more about Educare au pairs on the new J1Visa Dept. of State website

Interview With Owner of Take-Care.me - Private Testing of Au Pairs

Yossi Pinkas is the CEO and Founder of Take-Care.me, an online personality assessment of au pairs, nannies, and babysitters. TakeCare’s AuPairTest helps parents assess potential caregivers by providing a better insight into their personality and traits. Assessments are professional, easy to use and understand, affordable and available online anywhere and anytime.

Yossi has served as VP Sales & Marketing for Nemesysco, where he gained significant experience in the field of credibility assessment and integrity tests. Prior to Nemesysco, he has held the positions of VP of EMEA for Expand Networks and Director of Sales & Business Development for Tadiran Telecom. He has, a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the Technion Institute of Technology, Israel and an MBA from Henley Management College in the UK.

Yossi is a father to a daughter, age 14 and two sons (10 and 2.5) and has employed over the years 3 nannies and one au pair.

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Edina: Yossi, thank you for much for talking to our readers about your innovative business, TakeCare! I am excited to have the opportunity to talk to you about your new au pair screening test, called the NannyTest, which is available to host parents to ensure they are making a good, safe match.

Yossi, can you tell us more about your business and what NannyTest is all about?

A New Way to Screen Au Pairs

Pinkas: Thank you Edina for giving me the opportunity to introduce the NannyTest to America. TakeCare’s mission is to improve the screening process of caregivers by providing parents with an access to a professional screening tool. Our NannyTest allows parents to gain a better insight into an au pair’s personality traits as well as highlight possible risk factors.

Edina: How did you start your business and what motivated you to design and offer a childcare screening test to parents worldwide?

Pinkas: I started my business by partnering with a leading provider of psychological assessment tools and had them develop a screening tool that is specifically designed for the assessment of au pairs, nannies, babysitters and other childcare caregivers, and making it easy enough to use by non-professionals.

Before founding TakeCare, I worked for a company developing and marketing various screening tools for corporate and government customers. When my wife and I started looking for a nanny for my youngest child, I realized that we really could have benefited from a childcare screening tool, but there were no tests available for parents at that time. It took me a year or so to gather enough courage to start my own company that would provide a test that could help parents to better screen the person they hired to care for their children!

Edina: Who designed your test? What steps did they take to check the validity of NannyTest?

How the Nanny Test is Designed

Pinkas: Psiphas Psychological Applications, a leading vendor of psychological assessment tools, designed NannyTest. Psiphas has been designing tests for nearly 20 years and serves major government and corporate customers such as FedEx and IKEA.

Our personality assessment is based on the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) that has been well researched and validated in numerous studies by various researchers. The CPI is used extensively in the U.S. for individual personality screening and enjoys an excellent and popular reputation for its usefulness among psychologists.

I do wish to emphasize the NannyTest, as any psychological tool, is not and can never be 100% accurate. NannyTest should be used as part of a complete screening process, along with interviews, reference checks, etc., and test results should never be used as the sole factor in making a hiring decision.

Edina: Yes, of course, no psychological test can ever be 100% accurate! Certainly, a host parent would use the NannyTest in conjunction with the phone interview, criminal background checks, all other references, etc. Yossi, I am familiar with CPI, a highly respected and valid test that is recognized worldwide by the American Psychological Association (APA). It is impressive that the NannyTest is based on this worldwide known inventory.

Parents Receive a Written Report Summary

What I like about your test is the fact host parents receive a prospective au pair's summary report in an easy to read format. They now have control over a key part of the au pair's screening! This new technology is revolutionary for the au pair industry and I am not sure if parents understand how fortunate they are to have this kind of screening available to them at this time.

You really have to get the word out about this new and exciting development in the au pair interviewing process.

Pinkas: Yes, of course, we are spreading the word and, as a result, we are enjoying a very good response from childcare agencies worldwide. Thank you Edina for the opportunity to inform and educate host parents about the NannyTest.

Edina: As you know, the 13 legal au pair agencies in the United States are required by the Department of State to conduct personality screening on each prospective au pair. Therefore, by law, each au pair approved by each agency has already undergone a personality “test.”

When should parents conduct a second screening? Under what circumstances should host parents conduct a second screening?

Pinkas: As a matter of fact, the accurate wording of the Department of State requirement is “Personality Profile” rather than “Personality screening.” Not all tests designed to build a Personality Profile can be used to screen job applicants.

Two Critical Weaknesses of Current Au Pair Screening Tests

I have noticed that some agencies are using tests that are designed for job counseling rather than for screening job applicants, and serve the au pairs more than they serve the parents, telling an au pair whether a childcare position matches her inclinations and preferences, rather than assessing whether the au pair has the capabilities or personal traits required to perform the job.

Furthermore, typical personality tests lack the component of risk assessment, which I consider to be the most critical component of the screening process.

Edina: You make an excellent point here and I agree – several of the tests currently used by au pair agencies do not identify traits required to perform childcare duties nor do they assess potential risks.

In addition, not all American au pair agencies use the same personality test and some tests are better than others.

For example, one agency simply uses a series of questions they developed themselves, with “yes” or “no” responses. For example, “Do you see things that are not there? Do you hear voices coming from the TV?” Many au pairs who “see things that are not there” would be inclined to say “no” since they may feel paranoid about answering “yes” or they may be secretive about their visions and want to keep them hidden (for good reason). But, that would not help an agency to identify a risk factor here at all – and this au pair may “pass” such a test and be accepted into the program based on her ability to “hide” her pathology (i.e., hallucinations).

The list of questions this particular agency uses was created by the agency instead of a psychologist or team of psychologists and has no checks for its validity. It appears that the Department of State is okay with au pair agencies using their own “homemade” personality tests.

Why Would You NOT Rely on the Experts?

Do you think host parents should be concerned about this? Why is it important to use tests that are designed by experts/psychologists?

Pinkas: Host parents should definitely be concerned about it. Constructing questionnaires and tests should only be done by professionals with expertise in Psychometrics. Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of educational and psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits.

Constructing proper tests requires knowledge and expertise in both Psychology and Statistics. When questionnaires and tests are designed by non-professionals, one can never know how reliable and valid are the tests, and whether the results have any significance at all.

Edina: This is of great concern to me and should be for all host parents. If they are not comfortable with their agency’s au pair personality test, they should consider using your NannyTest for peace of mind!

Yossi, can you tell our readers how your NannyTest was validated?

Pinkas: Our test is based on the CPI (California Psychological Inventory) for personality assessment. Many research studies have validated the CPI and ithas been extensively used in the U.S. for many years. The risk assessment validity results from both construct validity of the test itself and the concurrent validity of the algorithms that were developed using discriminate analysis (and I do apologize if most readers are unfamiliar with those terms but I cannot explain it in a simple way without diving into a rather long lecture).

What Makes the NannyTest Unique?

Edina: Yossi, would you tell us about your test and what it measures?

Pinkas: The NannyTest is unique in combining both personality testing and risk assessment into a single test.

In the personality test part we evaluate personal traits suitability for the role of a caregiver. Those traits include responsibility, obedience and discipline, self-control, emotional stability, coping with pressure, service awareness and positive attitude.

The risk assessment part of the tests identifies risks related to violent behavior, drug abuse, drinking habits, general integrity, truthful reporting, respect for property (theft), commitment to place of work, bribery and gambling habits.

The test is an interactive online test and can be performed anywhere and anytime. It includes some 300 hundred questions, takes some 30 minutes to complete and requires the applicant to be fluent in reading English, Spanish or Portuguese.

Edina: I think both components are equally important, risk assessment and personality traits, and critical when screening au pairs (or nannies). Working with au pairs for many years, I can confirm that not all au pairs are “suited” for childcare. They may be lovely young people, friendly and pleasant, but they do not have the particular traits needed to care for children all day: patience and good judgment are two that come to mind immediately.

Risk assessment is a critical piece of the puzzle when interviewing for a safe childcare giver. Parents need to know if their au pair is truthful, non-violent and certainly, does not struggle with addiction problems (drugs, alcohol or gambling).

Host Parents Need More Information

Although au pair agencies must administer psychometric tests to all of their prospective au pairs, they are not required to share the results with host parents. Agencies could send host parents a report of the au pair’s results, if only just a brief, one page summary, but they don’t.

When parents use your test, they receive a report within minutes after the prospective au pair completes the test online. Would you tell us what the report includes? Would you talk about your report that is sent to parents?

Pinkas: The test report has been designed very carefully to be easily understood by parents and does not require any professional background to understand the results!

The first part of the report is a summary, showing whether it is safe to hire the au pair or if certain risks were identified. Only if no risk is identified, will the summary also show graphically how suitable the au pair is to taking care of children. The bar graph will presenther personal traits suitability scorecompared to the general population (above average, average or below average).

The second part of the report details the score for each risk factor and the third part presents the score for each personality trait assessed, so that parents can identify how well the au pair is scoring on the different personality traits.

Altogether, the report provides parents with a detailed insight into the au pair’s personality traits, and clear indications about possible risks in hiring her.

Edina: I think your report is excellent, easy to read, informative and highly useful for parents who are hiring au pairs over the phone, sight unseen and if they are uncertain about a particular au pair they have in mind. For parents who want to look at a sample report, they can download one here easily. One shows a "postive" report, the other shows red flags:

Download sample positive report

Download sample negative report

Two New Test Improvements

Yossi, there are two new improvements in your test regarding languages. Would you tell us about these new changes and how they can benefit host parents?

Pinkas: Because our NannyTest is timed, it requires the applicant to read the test language fluently. We initially launched the test in English only, but in the past few months, and based on market demand, we have added Spanish and Portuguese. Parents interviewing Spanish-speaking au pairs and au pairs from Brazil (who speak Portuguese) can use NannyTest with confidence. We will support more languages in the near future, to allow as many host parents to benefit from the NannyTest as possible.

Edina: This is great news – the largest au pair population in demand by American host parents includes both Spanish speaking au pairs and Brazilian au pairs.

I have a background in psychology and therefore I am very familiar with psychometric tests – and as an au pair expert, I am quite familiar with the screening process au pair agencies provide. There are many weaknesses in the screening process that could be greatly improved by using your test. Because I believe so strongly in the NannyTest and in the idea of giving parents more options and education in their search for the best au pair, I provide a link to your test from the Clearinghouse home page.

I highly recommend NannyTest for any parent who wants more control over the screening process and professional confirmation that their choice is an educated one.

Aren’t our children worth it?

Yossi: Thank you and yes, of course, our children are worth it!

I really appreciate your help in helping us create awareness for NannyTest. All articles and guides on screening caregivers that I found on the web limit the discussion to interviews, reference checks and background screening, so most parents aren’t aware of the existence of additional screening tools. The reason for that is probably that such tests were not relevant to parents as they were not accessible to them, but now, with NannyTest, any parent can perform such a test on their own, easily and at a very reasonable price.

Edina: Yossi, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to the Clearinghouse and to share your insights and expertise with au pair personality testing.

We hope you will come back again to keep us updated about this critical issue, and as more exciting news develops with your NannyTest.

Yossi: Yes, I will do that! Thank you so much Edina for the opportunity to present and discuss the NannyTest to your readers.

As a father, I know what it is like to find the best person to care for my children. I went through the process and it was daunting! My three children are the most important priorities in my life, next to my wife, and my concern and love for them were the motivating factors that lead me to creating the NannyTest. I want to share the ability to take more control over the screening process with as many parents as possible.

Edina, as you say here on your invaluable and very useful host family resource, the Clearinghouse, parents need more information to make the best choices. NannyTest provides parents with the kind of information that is critical in the choosing of the person who will be responsible for the care, safety and well-being of their children. They are worth it!

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Read More about the NannyTest:

Testimonial from Host Mom

Why Use TakeCare's Online Personality & Risk Assessment Test?

How to Interview & Screen Au Pairs

What Every Host Parent Needs to Know About Au Pairs & Culture Shock

FAQs from Host Parents:

1. What is Culture Shock?

Culture Shock is a phenomenon that occurs when a foreigner enters a new culture and experiences unpleasant adjustment symptoms that can range from problems sleeping, mental fatigue, a delay or refusal to speak the new culture’s language, a desire to return home and feelings of hopelessness. All au pairs experience some form of Culture Shock when they first arrive in your home.

Your counselor should have explained this phenomenon and what to expect and how to recognize the symptoms. However, many au pair agencies do not address this critical issue!

2. What should I expect when my new au pair arrives?

Au pairs experience culture shock in varying degrees when they arrive.

Most au pairs adjust quickly and are excited to meet the challenges of her new culture and all that is has to offer.

A significant number of au pairs never adjust and they usually return home soon after their arrival due to a number of reasons.

Culture Shock can disrupt the entire family's schedule and can result in a broken match. Protect your family's well-being and secure your match by knowing the facts behind Culture Shock & Au Pairs. Avoid costly rematches and time away from work.

3. How do I know my au pair is suffering from Culture Shock?

Recognizing Cultural Shock in your Au Pair

You will need to recognize the symptoms of cultural shock before you can help reduce the problems that may arise between your au pair and your family. If you understand how difficult it is for these young girls to adjust to a new country and a strange and different culture, you can be proactive in minimizing the disruption it can have on your family and for your au pair.

4. What happens if the problem doesn't get resolved?

Depression Can Set In

If left unchecked, Culture Shock can result in a clinical depression in your au pair. Some of the warning signs of depression are: homesickness that does not go away in 2-3 weeks, lethargy and sadness. If your au pair develops depression, she will be sent home in order to receive the proper medication and psychological intervention.

5. What should I do if I am a new host parent? How can I be prepared?

Educate yourself! Know as much as you can about Culture Shock so you can deal with it before it results in poor communication, childcare mistakes and/or rematch!

Do Not Hire an Au Pair Before you Read Our Comprehensive Report on Culture Shock and how it can affect your au pair and her relationship with your family and, most of all, your children!

My Wish List for Au Pair Agencies

Most American Families Do NOT Know That Au Pairs Are Very Affordable

It is true that many working families do not know how affordable au pairs are! I think one of the reasons is that the term au pair may scare off many parents who think you have to have money to hire a French babysitter! Most middle income families have little idea what an au pair is, or how affordable they are!

I was talking to a woman in the supermarket the other day and she was stressing out about her babysitter who just quit. This woman runs a dry cleaner and works long, hard hours. She was paying over $700 a week for a babysitter to care for her 2 children from 8 am - 5 pm. Her husband came home at 5 pm to relieve the babysitter.

When I told her she could host an au pair for half that amount she was thrilled, but said, "we don't speak French!"

Au Pair Agencies Do NOT Do a Good Job of Educating the American Public

There are many misconceptions about au pairs in this country - even after 25 years. A quarter of a century is more than enough time to educate the American public about au pairs, who they are, where they come from, and how much they cost, etc., but the au pair agencies have not done a very good job of it.

Many times, the only media attention au pairs get is when they do something wrong - then they are on the 5 o'clock news! These sensational stories do nothing for the au pair industry - if anything this reactive media attention serves to push the cultural exchange program further into the background of American childcare options.

Au Pair Programs Focus on Marketing Instead of Educating Their Customer Base

Why do au pair agencies do such a poor job of educating the American public about au pairs? Well, first, they don't have a long term vision of their business and the future of childcare in this country. They work pretty much day to day, to meet their quota of family enrollment to pay the bills and make a nice profit.

As long as this happens, au pair agencies don't really care about educating the American public, except to market their programs - these two goals are very different. You will never read a newspaper article about au pair programs unless it ends in a marketing sell. You don't read or hear from many VPs or CEOs of these unique businesses, not even in the Wall Street Journal or on the local news, unless again, it ends with a marketing plug. There are exceptions, but they are few and far between.

AuPairClearinghouse Educates and Shares Information with American Families

AuPairClearinghouse is the:

• First business to interview experts in the au pair industry and share with the American public how programs are run behind the scenes.
• First business to write loads of content on au pairs - who they are, how did the programs start, where they are recruited from, different nationalities, cultural differences, etc., even before the au pair programs did this themselves!
• Only third party business to rate and review the au pair agencies, giving parents the information they need to make educated choices when hiring a foreign stranger over the phone.

Au Pair Agencies Play Catch-Up, But Are They Gaining?

Now, little by little, au pair programs are placing blogs and content on their website for their host families. However, this is, in part, in reaction to the Clearinghouse's impact on the industry, but is it too little, too late? They had 25 years to educate the American public and they lost that opportunity. They cannot get that time back.

So, they play the marketing game, struggling to steal other agency customers by offering discounts, host family loyalty programs, etc.

Au Pair Programs Need to Educate the American Public

If they spent more money (and it doesn't cost that much to write about the program and send this information to newspapers in print and online; placing articles on their own website costs very little or next to nothing except to pay for a writer) on educating the American Family about au pairs, they would have more customers than they could handle.

Most agencies are small and cannot handle more than the 200 host families they service, but they also do not have people in charge who have the business acumen and vision to take their program to the top! What business do you know of that says "no" to more customers and more yearly revenue?

First Agency To Recruit Au Pairs Flounders

Once a leading agency, an older au pair agency, who is losing market share every day to their faster, sleeker competitors, actually tell their counselors they cannot give them money to place their au pair program stories in newspapers! They continue to tell their counselors that "word of mouth is the best marketing ad" and to just "keep providing good service". Well, they made the wrong decision years ago and now they are at the bottom of the bigger agencies and may soon call it quits. As their clusters dwindle, experienced counselors are jumping ship, because they need to replace lost revenue, and now the company is run largely by young, inexperienced counselors who are not giving the same good, quality service.

What Is Down the Road for Au Pair Agencies?

Keeping up with the times and current technology is important for any industry - the au pair programs struggle to keep their heads above water and to make themselves seen online to potential customers. But, you hardly hear from them - only occasionally, and most of the time the news story or press release is in the form of an ad or price reductions or a new discount. Older agencies have to freshen their marketing methods, get up to speed, replace old, outdated websites and hire writers to place good, useful content on their host family pages.

What should today's au pair agencies deliver today?

I have a few things on my wish list:

• Free Skype access to all host families and au pairs - in today's world, NO family should have to hire an au pair sight unseen over the phone!
• Personality Screening Disclosures - what kind of screening do agencies use and what do these tests reveal? Who makes the decision to block a prospective au pair based on this test?
• Au Pair Personality Reports that summarize this test and show how well (or poorly) the au pair did on the test. Allow the host parent access to this information so they can make an educated childcare choice!
• Full Disclosure On Rematch Au Pair - too many times programs will not share why rematch au pairs failed in their first and sometimes second family. Families have the right to know the facts! Let host families have access to this kind of information so they can make educated decisions for their children's well-being and safety.
• Full Disclosure on Weaknesses by Nationality - au pair agencies like to pretend that all au pairs are the same! They don't like to admit most Asian au pairs struggle with both English and driving. They point at the exceptions and say "See, Asian au pairs can drive! It is a myth that Asians cannot drive or speak English!" Well, the truth is MOST Asian au pairs struggle with both driving and English and it is due to their cultural experiences at home. Most of these au pairs, who have infant experience, are matched with new host parents, who don't know about these weaknesses. It is not fair, nor ethical, to hide an au pair's weaknesses when working with a new, inexperienced host family (who also has an infant) and expect that family to make due with a Thai or South Korean au pair who cannot communicate with them nor drive the family car.
• Special Needs Au Pairs - the au pair industry had 25 years to figure out how to recruit and train au pairs to care for America's special needs families. This is a lost opportunity for both the au pair business and sadly, for American parents who struggle to find safe, reliable and affordable childcare for their special needs children. I look forward to new au pair agencies who will develop a special needs program for one of most important and cricial issues facing our country today.

That is my short list! Anyone else want to add to this list?

What would be on your Wish List for au pair agencies?

Chinese Au Pairs

Overview of Chinese Culture and Chinese Au Pairs

The Chinese government opened its doors to foreign business in the 1970s and has not looked back since. Business is booming and statistics show that by 2025, China will be the world's largest economy! China has low unemployment due to their strong economy and au pairs do not have difficulty paying fees to sign up with au pair agencies. China is known as a state of etiquette and ceremonies. Courtesy to others, especially one's elder, is still very important in Chinese culture. The "one child only policy" still exists in China, so remember most, if not all, au pairs are an "only child" and are not used to large families with sisters or brothers (but that is slowly changing).

China's economic miracle impresses all those who travel there. As you stroll through major cities, you will see signs of progress everywhere: tall new office buildings, posh five-star hotels, gleaming, new and high-speed trains and modern and sleek airports, fancy residential towers and beautiful shopping malls that offer all the newest designer "goodies."

However, despite the new, rich and modern China, there is significant poverty for most of the population. Because of a vast disparity of income levels and a developing "class" system, some au pairs will have difficulty finding the money to pay for program fees.

So, we should expect that most of the Chinese au pairs arriving in the U.S.A are from the new and prosperous families who have the financial resources to foot the bill to send their daughter to America.

What are Chinese au pairs' main motivations to become au pairs and spend a year abroad in America? What are their Potential Strengths, their Potential Weaknesses?

Can Chinese au pairs drive well enough for busy American families? What about their English skills - do they pass with flying colors or is this a skill that needs more work?

Matching with a Chinese au pair is a bold move and a leap of faith - there are many cultural differences between Americans and the Chinese beyond the driving and communication. The positive side includes their patience with children and their hard work, the negatives are few, but can raise key questions before a family decides to host an au pair from China.

One of the most critical motivations American parents have in hiring a Chinese au pair is exposing their children to Mandarin - predicted to become the next language spoken in business worldwide, replacing English.

Read more about Chinese au pairs in our comprehensive review of China, Chinese au pairs and why they may be a good fit for your family's childcare needs! We review the strengths and weaknesses around hosting an au pair from China.

Read the entire article on Chinese Au Pairs

For more information about Chinese Au Pairs, read our exclusive interview with Tanna Wilson, an expert in hosting Chinese au pairs. Tanna Wilson is the Managing Director of goAUPAIR, one of several leading agencies recruiting Chinese au pairs for American families.

Use An Agency Designated by the U.S. Government, For Safety's Sake!

What does the Department of State designation mean?

America's current au pair program was established by the U.S. Government in 1986 as an educational and cultural exchange program with a childcare component.

The business idea was to recruit young women to spend a year abroad, learning another culture and travel, while providing 45 hours a week in childcare to their "host family." Host families pay the agency for this service.

The larger au pair agencies are a million dollar business. Au pair "programs" have to meet certain requirements and once they are approved, they receive a "designation" to sponsor or "run" their program.

As designated sponsors, all current au pair agencies must operate their programs in accordance with all of the US-DOS program regulations.

The government has set working hours, admission criteria, establishes the au pair weekly stipend and stipulates other important guidelines to ensure a positive experience for all parties.

The Au Pair Agencies

There are 13 "legal" au pair agencies in the United States. They are considered to be "legal" in the sense they have been approved by the Department of State (DOS) and are regulated by the U.S. government. DOS's goal is to make sure each au pair agency follows strict regulations concerning the overall recruiting, screening, training and agency monitoring of their au pairs.

Many of today's regulations were put into place by DOS after the Louise Woodward trial that involved the death of a host parents' young infant son, Matthew Eappen in 1997. Today, au pair agencies are closely monitored by DOS to protect the safety and well-being of American children cared for by foreign au pairs.

What are the au pair agencies responsible for?

Agencies carry out the day-to-day operation of the au pair program: they recruit, screen, select and match au pairs with host families.

• 
  They must ensure all au pairs are given a criminal background check and undergo psychological testing.


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  They must also ensure the au pairs speak and understand English.


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  Host families must be interviewed also and they are required to speak and understand English and meet all the requirements of hosting an international visitor.


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  Au pair agencies are required to train the au pairs according to US-DOS regulations and they must monitor each match by providing monthly contact with both au pair and host family.

NOTE: Although US-DOS authorizes and monitors these 13 au pair agencies, host families must remember that they are ultimately responsible for finding the au pair that is right for their family.

Because au pair agencies are a business first, they market and run their business to make a profit.

Not all agencies are the same and not all agencies have customer service as their benchmark. Most agencies want to make a profit and will always present the positive elements of the program to host families, shunning any mention of the cons.

First, and foremost, parents should become fully informed on the au pair industry and then carefully and thoroughly interview both the agency and any prospective au pair before welcoming a stranger into their homes.

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!