Agencies & Local Counselors

When your Local Community Counselor can’t remember your name

by cv harquail February 25, 2010

Wanna talk about creating a good relationship with your Local Community Counselor (LCC)? Let’s take a tip from a real Super Nanny, TSOM’s Fraulein Maria. “Let’s start at the very beginning.” No one (neither Au Pair nor host parent) can have a supportive relationship with an LCC unless the LCC does two basic things: (1) […]

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3 Qualities of a Great Local Community Counselor

by cv harquail February 24, 2010

We’ve got quite a backlog of posts waiting to go up about LCCs (Local Community Counselor) — those agency employees who are in charge of your local cluster of au pairs and host families. If you use an agency, your LCC can make or break your au pair experience. She is the link between the […]

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Tim Gunn’s advice on breaking the rules

by cv harquail February 21, 2010

If you ask Tim Gunn for advice about breaking the rules, he’ll tell you two things: 1. Make it work, and 2. Use the Bluefly accessories wall thoughtfully. Both pieces of Tim Gunn’s advice to fashionistas apply to au pairs & host families. In general, I am black handbag = black shoes kind of person. […]

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Agency Policies on Withholding Pay: What are they? Calling all LCCs …

by cv harquail January 25, 2010

Let’s see if we can get some clarity on this question once and for all, and without me calling or email all the agencies to get the official answers. May I call on the LCCs who read AuPairMom, and ask you to tell us what your agency’s official policy is? I’m talking “Official” policy, not […]

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Good Bye, Good Luck from exAuPairMom

by cv harquail October 13, 2009

I always wonder about “the rest of the story” when I get a notice that someone has unsubscribed from the email newsletter .. for the reason that “the content is no longer valid”. I usually take that to mean “we don’t have an au pair anymore”. Over the weekend we got this letter from a […]

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Matching with an Au Pair: When Racism interferes

by cv harquail October 2, 2009

Take a deep breath everyone– time to talk about something many people find uncomfortable: Racism. But talk about it we must, because racism gets in the way of our relationships with each other. 3 Sources of “Racism Interference” Racism interference can come from three directions, any of which can influence your match with an Au […]

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Extending– without the Agency. Yes or no?

by cv harquail June 17, 2009

We are in month 8 with our first au pair (she’s frmo Thailand), who has been great. We would like to extend, and she would like to stay for at least six months more, but she would like to do so outside of the agency. Apparently a friend of hers, at the end of her […]

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Learning about the “Education Requirement”

by cv harquail June 1, 2009

The education requirement for au pairs on one of those features of the program that can be misleading, both for families and for au pairs themselves. My sense is that the US, the agencies and the LCCs all know that meeting the requirements with ‘only’ $500 tuition credit is almost impossible. And, they rely on […]

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If you were an Au Pair: Agency or Website?

by cv harquail May 18, 2009

On the heels of our conversation about whether or not we as host families prefer agencies or websites to find our au pairs , comes an email from a potential au pair on the same topic: Next year I plan to get experience as an Aupair. I’m from Australia, and it has been very hard […]

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Going “Off the Board” to find an Au Pair

by cv harquail May 12, 2009

I’ve only ever used an agency to find an au pair. I’m a little harried, and I need someone else to do all the administration. Plus, I’ve always counted on the security of an agency and LCC behind me if something went wrong. I hear, though, that many host families find their au pairs without […]

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