What is an Au Pair?

• A common question asked by many parents looking for child care alternatives is, "What is an au pair?". To answer this question let's look at the actual definition of 'au pair'. It is pronounced “o pair” in French, and means "on par" or equal, denoting living on an equal basis in a reciprocal, caring relationship between the host family and the young person. Like an older sibling, the au pair is included in all family activities, unlike an "employee" of a nanny agency who might be excluded from family meals, holiday celebrations, and other activities. In Europe today, tens of thousands of families and au pairs continue this practical and mutually valuable tradition and the custom is spreading around the world.
• She is officially designated as an Exchange Visitor by the United States Department of State and is brought here from other countries to the USA to assist parents in caring for their children.
  
• Where a nanny or childcare service provider may have many different families and children for which they provide services, an au pair is treated as a family member and becomes a ‘big sister’ to only your children . Unlike a nanny or childcare service provider who considers her childcare responsibilities a job and leaves at the end of a work day, your au pair lives with you and becomes a regular member of your family, bonding with your children and enriching their lives with their love and the language and culture from which they came.
• An au pair is a "big sister" from an exciting faraway land. Your au pair will live in your home as a family member, and will be available to assist with the care of your children for up to 45 hours per week.
• Although heavy housework is not permitted, au pairs can share in routine family chores and light housework such as making the kids' beds or helping them straighten their rooms.
• Quite simply, au pairs, although not trained professionally, can handle many aspects of childcare - responsibly and efficiently. Whatever care and support you might ask of an older son or daughter, you may ask of an au pair. (However, some Au Pair agencies offer au pair's that are more highly trained.)
  
• Au Pair's are expected to take accredited courses through a higher learning school in order to learn more about our culture or country.
• An au pair is here to enrich your lives and to experience the life as an American.
• Culture exchanges are a part of everyday living in your home. The au pair will share her knowledge of her country and its customs as well as learn about yours. For example: many au pairs love to cook their traditional meals for you and also to learn new recipes to take home to their country that depict American cuisine.
  

What an Au Pair is NOT!

• An au pair is not a maid or a servant. They are not here to do your personal cleaning and chores.
• Au Pair's are not your personal chauffeur’s or taxi service.

My next Post will be about how to interview potential Au Pair's and what is important to know when interviewing them! Again, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at info@babyfindit.com

Julie Bille- Former Host mother, Community Counselor

Au Pair Agency Checklist

As a former Au Pair Host Mother and Community Counselor I encourage all families that are looking into getting an Au-Pair to seriously research the Agency that you are going to work with. Through the years I have noticed many new agencies pop up online. A quote from IAPA (International Au Pair Association)shares my concern, “Newspaper, internet advertisements or one of the many web-based matching services may appear to be acceptable and inexpensive alternatives for securing an au pair placement. There are, however, potential risks in arranging a placement in this manner.” I offer you words of caution and suggest you make a checklist before signing on with an Agency.

Checklist:

• Be sure they are a federally designated agency. To date there are only Eleven such Agencies.
  
• Be sure they allow you to interview your candidates and not THEM doing the match for you. Some allow only 1-2 candidates, while other agencies allow you to sift through their entire database so that you can be the one making the decision.
  
• PLEASE make sure that the agency you go with has health insurance for the au pairs!!!!!! SOME DO NOT!!!!!!!!
  
• Check with IAPA (International Au Pair Association) for pertinent information about guidelines for hosting or becoming an Au Pair in the United States.
  
• Be prepared to help your Au Pair attend approximately 3 classes during the year they are here. This can be a challenge to find classes within the federally allotted funds by the Government so do your homework.
  
• Do they offer an extended program for Au-Pair's if they want to stay for more than one year? Some Agencies now offer an extension program that allows the Au-Pairs to stay longer than a year. Please check out the pros-cons for this.
  
• Be sure they offer training for the girls before they step foot in your home.
  
• If you have a child under 2, the Government requires higher trained individuals to care for your child, please check that the agency you choose differentiates their candidates for under 2 childcare.
  
• Make sure a Criminal Background check is done by the AGENCY or an affilliated partner.
  
• Who Interviews the candidates before you actually get to speak to them. Some agencies will take any girls that sign up? It is pertinent that they go through a screening process before being approved by an agency.
  
• Does the agency actually check references? Are you allowed to see them and follow up on your own?
  
• Have the individuals been thoroughly screened by a health care provider? Are you allowed to see these records?
  
• Be sure to ask that you can view all of the information about the candidate that they agency has on record. If they do not have it or will not show it to you then something is amiss.
  
• How long has the Agency been in business?
  
• Do they offer any referrals of their own?
  
• Are these things included in your price:
  
  • Round Trip Airfare
    
  • Health Insurance
    
  • Background checks
    
  • References
    
  • Health Screening Check
    
  • In-Depth Interviews
    
  • Development and Safety Instruction
    
• Is there a community counselor in your area? It is so important for the Au Pairs to have a physical support system close to them. I highly recommend that you contact the community counselor in your area and interview her and assess her commitment to the Au Pairs and the program she works with!
  
• Are there many other Au Pairs close to you? This does not mean that the girls have to only socialize within their own agency. Many girls seek Au Pairs no matter what agency they are with. If there are not many girls within your agency in your area, be sure and help them find the other girls from other agencies.
  
• Does the Agency assist Au Pairs to get the appropriate Visa?
  
• Do they mandate and require certain Visa's before accepting them into the program?

It is always best to do your homework before delving into something that can affect your children and your entire family. Au Pair's are wonderful additions to families and can be the best experience in the world, BUT, if you don't do your homework it can be a nightmare. If you have any specific questions that you feel I can assist you with, please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to answer.

I plan to follow up with more information with advise about the differences between Au Pair, Nanny, Child-Care, baby-sitting and how to actually interview a potential Au-Pair, and an inside look at being a Community Counselor.

Some of my resources were drawn from http://www.iapa.org, http://www.euraupair.com and http://www.gonannies.com

I was a Host Mother for 4 years and the Au Pairs were from Spain, Germany, Canada and Turkey. I have 4 children (three of whom are triplets). I was then a Volunteer Community Counselor an additional 2 years. I will not name the organization I was working with but will attempt to educate the public in many aspects of this realm of Child-Care.

More information can easily be found by running a search under the term "Au Pair"

For questions I may be reached at info@babyfindit.com

Click here to print this page