Agencies & Local Counselors

What If Only One Host Parent is a U.S. Citizen?

by cv harquail February 28, 2017

Here’s one of those “finer points” of the Host Parenting situation where we need some of you Agency experts to weigh in. The US State Department (not the Au Pair Agencies themselves) “(1) Require that the host parents are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents”. What happens when one parent IS a citizen but the […]

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Au Pair Departs in a Huff, Then Moves In Next Door

by cv harquail February 20, 2017

This LongIslandHostMom’s experience triggered PTSD for me. All the feels. The ugly, angry resentful feels. All I could think about, after I readLongIslandHostMom’s email, was how awful it had been to run into our former, “flame out” au pair, when she showed up for a BBQ at my friend’s beach house with my friend’s nanny, acting […]

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Can Foster Parents Host Au Pairs?

by cv harquail December 31, 2016

Over the transom comes a very rare email — one with a question we’ve never addressed before! Good way to start things up again, methinks. A Foster Mom writes: I was recently told by an agency that they are unable to work with our family because we are foster parents. We feel discriminated against. Is […]

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What’s the Real Ratio of Good Au Pair Experiences to Bad Au Pair Experiences?

by cv harquail November 3, 2016

Something I really don’t understand about the larger cultural conversation about Au Pairs is how negatively the Au Pairing experience is portrayed. The Au Pairing experience is too often presented as being “bad” — where Host Families are demanding, irrational, and/or punitive, and Au Pairs are beleaguered, exploited, and powerless. Meanwhile, here on the AuPairMom […]

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Do Bad Host Families Get Blacklisted By Au Pair Agencies?

by cv harquail October 23, 2016

How might Agencies keep bad Host Families from cycling from one Agency to the next, without getting removed from the program entirely? We worry not only about bad Au Pairs getting recycled though the system, but also about rematch Host Families getting one chance after another to strike out with an Au Pair. It should […]

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How To Share Information About Rematch Au Pairs, When the Agency Won’t

by cv harquail October 18, 2016

We all believe that Au Pair Agencies should be as transparent as possible about what sends Au Pairs and Host Families into rematch. We don’t want to recycle problem Au Pairs and problem Host Families, hoping that they can make some kind of barely adequate rematch that avoids anything illegal or unsafe, just so they […]

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Ways to Take the Fury Out Of Infuriating When an Au Pair Does You Wrong

by cv harquail September 16, 2016

There are some Host Parent – Au Pair situations where, once they happen, you can’t really do anything. Except get steamed. Even when it’s more than just the Au Pair’s behavior, getting steamed at that other Host Family or even at the Au Pair Agency that let it all happen doesn’t actually help you. So, […]

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Visa Questions for Extension Au Pair Who Wants to Travel Home

by cv harquail September 8, 2016

Readers, here’s a topic where I’m in the dark. Have any of you experienced this issue and found a solution? We have a fabulous au pair and are looking to extend her for another year. Her visa expires in October. We are essentially getting no help from our agency about how to extend her.

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How to Reduce the Costs of Having an Au Pair

by cv harquail July 23, 2016

Parents who are researching childcare options for the first time invariably experience “sticker shock”. Who knew that a year of childcare in America could cost as much as a year at a good instate university? Whether childcare is provided by a retail day care center, a someone-else’s-home-based childcare center, a nanny, or an au pair, […]

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Helping an Au Pair Whose Host Dad Is Acting Inappropriately

by cv harquail June 26, 2016

(Reposting from its previous place in another thread:) Writes Host Mom X, I need some urgent advice on an uncomfortable situation, with a new au pair and her Host Dad: One of our au pair’s besties recently ended her year, and our au pair has taken that host family’s new au pair under her wing. […]

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