Au Pair of the Year Award Announced in Vienna, Austria

Here is the announcement made by IAPA, written by Ozgur Tore, on the official release of the winner of the Au Pair of the Year Award:

Au Pair of the Year awarded at City Hall in Vienna

Published by Ozgur Tore
Monday, 30 March 2009

IAPA - the International Au Pair Association has announced the winner of the Au Pair of the Year, 24-year old, Ricardo Silva de Araujo of Brazil. He was placed with a family in the United States.

Now in its sixth year, the annual award presented by IAPA goes to an Au Pair that embodies the spirit of cultural exchange. Families from around the world that have received an Au Pair from one of IAPA’s 140 plus member agencies can nominate candidates for the award. A panel of IAPA representatives then selects three finalists from the hundreds of entries, with a winner chosen from these.

“As is the case every year, we had a very difficult time selecting just one winner from the many, many deserving entries we received. Ricardo was so special for his openness, sharing and commitment to his host family and their son Taylor,” said Jack Hompes, IAPA chairman.

Cultural Care Au Pair, an organisation based in the USA placed Ricardo with the Boyer family. The family’s now 17-year son, Taylor is multi-handicapped, having suffered an allergic reaction to an immunization as a six month old. He is unable to speak, has difficulty walking and experiences seizures. In Ricardo’s words however, “he may not able to talk, but he is able to feel. His feelings are pure as an angel and his smile when happy, is the best way to say thank you.”
Upon Ricardo’s arrival with the Boyer family that was in the midst of preparing for their daughter’s upcoming wedding, Ricardo was amazed by the incredible patience and support the family showed him during this stressful time. There was much Ricardo had to learn in order to help properly care for Taylor and the family’s support made the enormous transition to a new culture, new language and learning new skills much easier.

Talking about his time with the family, Ricardo says, “I learned the real meaning of love, patience and respect. Real love does not come in phrases like: “I love you,” this is easy to say but difficult to feel.

Taylor’s disability is not an obstacle for his happiness, this has made me feel good. I love Taylor and know he loves me back. I can feel it.”

Ricardo concludes, ”I came to America as an au pair, I will leave a better human being.”

For his achievement, Ricardo Silva de Araujo received a commemorative plaque and prize from IAPA, in addition to an all expense paid trip to Vienna to receive the award.

The award is presented as part of the IAPA Annual Conference and in conjunction with the Work Experience Travel Market.

About the International Au Pair Association (IAPA) The International Au Pair Association (IAPA) was established in 1994 by cultural exchange organisations seeking to improve and protect the rights of au pairs and host families around the world. The association has been responsible for the creation of internationally recognised guidelines for au pairs and exchange programmes with its 140 plus member organisations agreeing to abide by the IAPA Code of Conduct: signifying competence, fair dealing and high integrity.

Cultural Care & Au Pair in America Price Wars

Looks like the "Coke and Pepsi" rivals of the au pair industry are slugging it out again in their never-ending battle to gain market share.

Cultural Care rose to their number one spot with an aggressive marketing campaign and expansion of services into Au Pair in America's territories and left Au Pair in America in the dust 6 years ago.

Au Pair in America, the nation's first au pair agency, has been struggling ever since to regain their #1 one position in the industry. Despite the competition, Au Pair in America raised fees in 2009 (they are now the most expensive program) and they continue to struggle with the negative effects of a weak and poorly funded marketing strategy.

Au Pair in America's launch of their new family protection insurance was a clever marketing come-back to Cultural Care's announcement they were not raising fees for 2009.

Au Pair in America unrolled their new program at the heels of Cultural Care's announcement they would not raise fees in order to provide host families financial relief during the economic crisis.

In response to Au Pair in America's new family protection plan, Cultural Care just announced their family protection program - the "Peace of Mind Guarantee" ensures host families if they are forced to withdraw from the program, due to a job loss, the company will refund any unused portion of their program fees and place the current au pair with a new family so she can complete her program.

In terms of lower fees and overall costs, The "Coke and Pepsi" wars between au pair agencies continue to be a win-win for host families.

To read the full details of these programs, read the press releases at www.aupairinamerica.com and go to Current News (Press Releases).

By Edina Stone, at 03/07/2009 - 13:44 Edina

Host Family Sues Au Pair Agency in Federal Court for Negligence and Fraud

A host family from Guilford is suing Cultural Care for $5 million dollars and the civil lawsuit charges the agency with breach of contract, negligence and fraud. They allege that their Swedish au pair took inappropriate photographs of their 5-year-old daughter. The suit claims that the daughter and her family are suffering from "irreversible emotional injury and distress” and seeks damages that include financial cost to the parents associated with finding another au pair, providing medical care for their minor child as well as the costs of litigation.

The civil lawsuit, filed in Federal court, claims that the agency failed to adequately screen, train, supervise and monitor the au pair. When the host mom found the alleged photographs, police took the au pair in for questioning. The photographs showed their child wearing red silk pajamas and her face was covered in heavy make-up. In some of the photos, the girl's top was open, in other photos, the top was off altogether. In one picture, the girl had her hand down her pajama bottoms. This was the only photo that was later interpreted by the police to be pornographic.

Because the law stipulates that there must be at least three pornographic pictures for an arrest - the au pair was released and the agency sent her home to Sweden. No charges were ever filed against the au pair.

We will continue to report on this story as it moves through the courts. Please send your comment to me at this blog.