One step closer to a class action against certain agencies - Visit the link today

[Anonymous]

We are gaining more traction on a suit against several agencies. There should be meetings with a Congressman, a law firm, and a national news agency within the next couple weeks. We are looking for all three of these to happen at the same time (at least the discussion) and move forward from here. Host families have been begging for a suit against certain agencies for a long time and this is the closest we have been able to come.

Please visit https://www.hostfamilyaction.com/ if you have been a victim of fraud, fraud by omission, lied to by the agencies, kicked out of the program, etc. This all started when three families figured out the fraud committed during the rematch process. Thank you for your time!

[Anonymous]

Who are you? The website has no information at all.
Perhaps this just a finishing expedition or scam . . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who are you? The website has no information at all.
Perhaps this just a finishing expedition or scam . . . .

We needed a way to gather families that might not know there were others that have gone through what they went through. This was one way to gather that information. Once the suit comes to fruition, I will gladly turn this site over to the firm handling the case. Gathering prospective plaintiffs is not the easiest thing to do and keeping track of all the FB messages, emails, phone calls has been a chore for accuracy and organization. This will allow the information to be kept on a secure server for future reference. This issue has been circulating around social media and these forums for the past month or two so it won't be a surprise to many.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, but who is "we"?

Are you the same person who posted a couple of weeks ago?

This sounds really shady to me. If you're on the up and up -- post your name.

[Anonymous]

or at least a description . . . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:or at least a description . . . . .

A description.... We have approx. 50 host families that have all shared information. We are in contact with a producer who will get this on national news once we have several items in place. We have a breakfast meeting setup with my Congressman to talk about presenting a bill before Congress with a co-sponsor from the opposite party to help give host families more protections. There are currently zero protections for host families in the State Dept. regulations concerning the au pair program. We are claiming fraud against several agencies. We have approx. 5 firms looking at the case and we want the best and of course not all 5 would take it on anyway. This will most likely go class action in Federal court. This is a grassroots effort from a bunch of great families that actually care about other people and their children. It might sound easy to throw out a bunch of names on a public forum but the website was a way to allow us to keep families information on a secure server and to contact them in the future. Some families are still with agencies so we are not trying to make their life difficult. The people who will be involved would clearly be upset over how the agency treated them. We can be much more specific once we put a couple more pieces together. The main point is to gather a list of potential families that might be party to this suit. This is usually thousands of dollars that are lost when a family is either kicked out of a program for raising alarm bells, losing an ap for whatever reason, etc.

We are trying to save the au pair program while making it better for host families and au pairs.

We feel a bi-partisan bill could allow Congress to show they are attempting to help American families while still keeping the program. It would give both sides the talking points they need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or at least a description . . . . .

A description.... We have approx. 50 host families that have all shared information. We are in contact with a producer who will get this on national news once we have several items in place. We have a breakfast meeting setup with my Congressman to talk about presenting a bill before Congress with a co-sponsor from the opposite party to help give host families more protections. There are currently zero protections for host families in the State Dept. regulations concerning the au pair program. We are claiming fraud against several agencies. We have approx. 5 firms looking at the case and we want the best and of course not all 5 would take it on anyway. This will most likely go class action in Federal court. This is a grassroots effort from a bunch of great families that actually care about other people and their children. It might sound easy to throw out a bunch of names on a public forum but the website was a way to allow us to keep families information on a secure server and to contact them in the future. Some families are still with agencies so we are not trying to make their life difficult. The people who will be involved would clearly be upset over how the agency treated them. We can be much more specific once we put a couple more pieces together. The main point is to gather a list of potential families that might be party to this suit. This is usually thousands of dollars that are lost when a family is either kicked out of a program for raising alarm bells, losing an ap for whatever reason, etc.

We are trying to save the au pair program while making it better for host families and au pairs.

We feel a bi-partisan bill could allow Congress to show they are attempting to help American families while still keeping the program. It would give both sides the talking points they need.

I meant a description of who YOU are . . . (one of these families, a consultant, a paralegal).

Why should anyone give their personal information to an anonymous poster who wont even say who they are . . . Raises lots of red flags.

[Anonymous]

PLEASE GET OFF THIS FORUM. Lawsuits of any kind at this sensitive time for the program strike me as destructive. Plantiffs lawyers are trying to make a profit and that is why they are soliciting here. Of course I understand that some families feel they have a legitimate complaint against an agency, but I don't think a class action lawsuit will help them (or other HFs) in any way.

[Anonymous]

We obviously have a lot of resident experts on this post who know all. I assume these experts know what legislation is being introduced to help the au pair program. I assume they have driven down to their Congressman and Senators offices and had these conversations in person. I can't imagine the lowest ambulance chasing law firm using this forum and this tactic to find potential people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PLEASE GET OFF THIS FORUM. Lawsuits of any kind at this sensitive time for the program strike me as destructive. Plantiffs lawyers are trying to make a profit and that is why they are soliciting here. Of course I understand that some families feel they have a legitimate complaint against an agency, but I don't think a class action lawsuit will help them (or other HFs) in any way.

Agree fully. The entire program is on the edge of a cliff at this moment, and the suggestion that a potential class action lawsuit will HELP the program is misguided, at best. My guess is that this poster is a paralegal or other non-lawyer staff member at a law firm considering taking this case, who is trying to gather as many good class representative options as possible (and they will pick the "best" ones to use in the caption when the suit is filed).

Nothing is perfect and hey, I guess if you and others (or rather, your clients) feel they were wronged, then have at it and bring suit. There are already civil remedies available. as you have already noted (fraud claims ,etc), so I'm not sure why you think "Congress" is or should be part of this particular endeavor of yours (and frankly, I don't think you do plan to involve "Congress"... I think you are saying that here to get others to buy what you are selling). This is simply not an issue that will (or even should) be solved via legislation. With all that is going on right now in the world, Congress does not care one ounce about tweaking the AP program (which in any event is potentially going to be cut off at the knees by Executive Order, depending on the whims of our impulsive President).

So, please do not try to spin this as good for the AP program. It's not. All this will do is turn on yet another burner under an already boiling pot. But this poster doesn't care about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PLEASE GET OFF THIS FORUM. Lawsuits of any kind at this sensitive time for the program strike me as destructive. Plantiffs lawyers are trying to make a profit and that is why they are soliciting here. Of course I understand that some families feel they have a legitimate complaint against an agency, but I don't think a class action lawsuit will help them (or other HFs) in any way.

Agree fully. The entire program is on the edge of a cliff at this moment, and the suggestion that a potential class action lawsuit will HELP the program is misguided, at best. My guess is that this poster is a paralegal or other non-lawyer staff member at a law firm considering taking this case, who is trying to gather as many good class representative options as possible (and they will pick the "best" ones to use in the caption when the suit is filed).

Nothing is perfect and hey, I guess if you and others (or rather, your clients) feel they were wronged, then have at it and bring suit. There are already civil remedies available. as you have already noted (fraud claims ,etc), so I'm not sure why you think "Congress" is or should be part of this particular endeavor of yours (and frankly, I don't think you do plan to involve "Congress"... I think you are saying that here to get others to buy what you are selling). This is simply not an issue that will (or even should) be solved via legislation. With all that is going on right now in the world, Congress does not care one ounce about tweaking the AP program (which in any event is potentially going to be cut off at the knees by Executive Order, depending on the whims of our impulsive President).

So, please do not try to spin this as good for the AP program. It's not. All this will do is turn on yet another burner under an already boiling pot. But this poster doesn't care about that.

The best response to this would be: you don't know what you don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PLEASE GET OFF THIS FORUM. Lawsuits of any kind at this sensitive time for the program strike me as destructive. Plantiffs lawyers are trying to make a profit and that is why they are soliciting here. Of course I understand that some families feel they have a legitimate complaint against an agency, but I don't think a class action lawsuit will help them (or other HFs) in any way.

Agree fully. The entire program is on the edge of a cliff at this moment, and the suggestion that a potential class action lawsuit will HELP the program is misguided, at best. My guess is that this poster is a paralegal or other non-lawyer staff member at a law firm considering taking this case, who is trying to gather as many good class representative options as possible (and they will pick the "best" ones to use in the caption when the suit is filed).

Nothing is perfect and hey, I guess if you and others (or rather, your clients) feel they were wronged, then have at it and bring suit. There are already civil remedies available. as you have already noted (fraud claims ,etc), so I'm not sure why you think "Congress" is or should be part of this particular endeavor of yours (and frankly, I don't think you do plan to involve "Congress"... I think you are saying that here to get others to buy what you are selling). This is simply not an issue that will (or even should) be solved via legislation. With all that is going on right now in the world, Congress does not care one ounce about tweaking the AP program (which in any event is potentially going to be cut off at the knees by Executive Order, depending on the whims of our impulsive President).

So, please do not try to spin this as good for the AP program. It's not. All this will do is turn on yet another burner under an already boiling pot. But this poster doesn't care about that.

The best response to this would be: you don't know what you don't know.

We don't know anything because you won't tell us anything.

[Anonymous]

I love the fact OP thinks congress will do anything about the program. If they cannot figure out what to do with the almost 1M DACA people you think 50 families complaining about child care practices will get their attention? Reeeaaally????

This sounds like some lame HFs who got kicked out of the program for probably charging for TP and electricity and other stupid shit and few HF who got a terrible rematch candidate.

People will sue for anything. The national news story will help I am sure...everyone watches TV news these days.

[Anonymous]

There's a guy on Facebook soliciting for this too. Search the AP match/rematch groups.

His name is Eric Svedberg.

Maybe he is posting here too.

[Anonymous]

This group is funny. So fast to roast someone anonymously. Maybe there are actually some people that care and want to do the right thing.