Host Family Class Action Suit

[Anonymous]

Our family has needed to retain a lawyer because of a contract dispute with Cultural Care. The lawyer has repeatedly asked if other families have had the same dispute because they believe the aupair agency has "sold" screening, placement support and professional experience level of an aupair to a family while appearing to be misrepresenting the actual screening, support and professional experience of an aupair in order to have a family sign up to host.

Our issues with the agency aside, please comment below if this has happened to your family. We were a new host family so I don't believe it's a normal experience but I also think more families like us may be out there.

And class action suits are crap and no one but lawyers make money, but I thought I would ask.

[Anonymous]

Please dont mess up the AP program for the rest of us by allowing this lawyer to do this

[Anonymous]

YES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please dont mess up the AP program for the rest of us by allowing this lawyer to do this

Like the AP lawsuit messed up the program? I doubt it will mess up anything.

[Anonymous]

OP:

The lawyer is stating that the current practices of advertising that aupairs are screened by the company and not the independent contractors in their own countries violates the consumer protection act in maryland. I can only state what is being told to me. I hired a lawyer because I don't want to deal with this whole thing any more.
https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/CPD%20Documents/Home%20Builder/laws/cpa.pdf


We have a separate issue which we are dealing with. If someone has time/effort/is a lawyer already and wants to give input, that's great.

For those worried that it will somehow end the program, if host families are being hurt and it truly is deceptive practices, why would you want it to continue? I would think you would want the advertising and program to be honest.

[Anonymous]

If a lawyer can figure out how to take action against APs who come to the US via NIE visas, and then rematch within days to 2 weeks (pre-planned via FB), and how agencies look the other way---I AM IN

[Anonymous]

Plus one what the previous poster said, ours did this within 2 weeks, have a friend who went through 4 the same way!!!!

[Anonymous]

OP, YES, they are misrepresenting the au pairs' experience and training. They count babysitting for family (easy to fake the hours this way) or volunteering at a childcare center run by the recruiters in their home country. Their hours are often exaggerated, and language barriers make it nearly impossible for host families to find out the truth. The agencies deserve to be sued.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plus one what the previous poster said, ours did this within 2 weeks, have a friend who went through 4 the same way!!!!

Seriously? Can this be couched as immigration fraud?

[Anonymous]

All an attempted class action suit will do is distract the agencies, cause nervousness amongst potential APs and HFs and potentially raise the costs for all of us. Please donk foist your lawyer on us here - she/he doesnt give a damn about the program families and is just looking for ways to make $$$

[Anonymous]

No one should fool themsleves about the screening done by the AP companies, its not a FBI background check with site visits and extensive interviews. And who cares if it is done by independent contractors? So frustrating that someone would seek to solve a problem by creating bigger problems. If you are suing one of the agencies you are wasting time and money - have you read your contract? Surely all you can recover is the fee you paid and is that really worth the trouble?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All an attempted class action suit will do is distract the agencies, cause nervousness amongst potential APs and HFs and potentially raise the costs for all of us. Please donk foist your lawyer on us here - she/he doesnt give a damn about the program families and is just looking for ways to make $$$

Personally, i think the agencies need a wake up call. they are getting away with too much and we let it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one should fool themsleves about the screening done by the AP companies, its not a FBI background check with site visits and extensive interviews. And who cares if it is done by independent contractors? So frustrating that someone would seek to solve a problem by creating bigger problems. If you are suing one of the agencies you are wasting time and money - have you read your contract? Surely all you can recover is the fee you paid and is that really worth the trouble?

OP here. Yes, yes it is. Separate issue from the screening one the lawyer is asking about. I'm not overly interested in a class action suit. Host families are this mixed group of people where most know that the system is broken and companies are making tons of profit off of bad contracts and bad screening, but they don't want anything to change because they are getting childcare for less than a nanny. I won't say it's "cheap" but between LCCs, companies, aupairs and host families, it's a co-dependent scenario.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am in the situation with a NIE visa fraud. Au pair quit after 11 days blaming my kids behviour while she came here under a NIE visa to help take care of my autistic daugther.
Any update on your side ?

[Anonymous]

Other than be angry and file a compliant with cultural care, there is really nothing. I too have a child on the spectrum and I can imagine that she could describe the situation in such a way that cultural care would help her rematch - even if your daughter's behavior is consistent with how we have described it to the potential au pair and she claims to have understood and welcomed the challenge. If it were me, pursuing anything here would just make me more sad/upset as its would likely result in unflattering descriptions of my child.