Summary of new proposed AP rules from State Dep't

[Anonymous]

PP I told her I was happy to help

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the changes coming in are also being pushed by far left and far right groups that don’t want to see women in the workplace. In the past 5 years I’m seeing less and less women in the pipeline at work. Many have switched to working remotely because they can’t find consistent childcare. This kills their career.

I’m a single mother. My ex husband is unreliable. I have to go to work and I don’t get to take breaks. Two of my children are disabled, they have autism. My third child has dyslexia and is too tired for aftercare. I’m paid fairly well but not lots because I’m paying school fees, childcare, medical expenses and housing.

I’d like to know what I’m supposed to do because the family courts don’t enforce child related expenses being equally shared, to keep my well paid job I have to show up even when I have a sick child and I can’t afford an au pair, no one wants the nanny role as not enough hours plus I need household admin done, which they don’t want to do.

This is about women’s rights because this is going to disproportionately affect women.

I don’t think it’s about women in the workplace. The effects on women are collateral damage. Ultimately for the far-right they’re concerned about visa overstays and preventing immigrants from coming into the United States. The left is focused on wage concerns (increasing the minimum wage and not having au pairs undercut nannies’ wages). They also have some concern about working conditions for au pairs generally. Neither considers the effect their policies have on working families. The far left would ideally solve the collateral damage issue through government-funded childcare, but that’s completely politically unrealistic in the near term and they don’t really care that much about the families that bear the cost of effectively cancelling the au pair program. Unfortunately families have no way to organize themselves politically and express their policy preferences in a way that can be seriously considered by policymakers.

[Anonymous]

I struggle feeling for parents who actually believe they have a right to exploit women from developing countries so that they can afford their lifestyle. They want a full time employee without any of the responsibilities of an employer. Guarantee they wouldn’t accept this attitude from their own employer. If you want a full time employee, you need to pay at least minimum wage of your state. I get that childcare is crazy expensive, but women of color aren’t responsible for being exploited to fix that problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I struggle feeling for parents who actually believe they have a right to exploit women from developing countries so that they can afford their lifestyle. They want a full time employee without any of the responsibilities of an employer. Guarantee they wouldn’t accept this attitude from their own employer. If you want a full time employee, you need to pay at least minimum wage of your state. I get that childcare is crazy expensive, but women of color aren’t responsible for being exploited to fix that problem.

Ok? I’m pretty sure everyone on here would agree with you that exploiting women of color is bad? What are you proposing? Dismantling the Au pair program? US families will always have other childcare options beyond Au pairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I struggle feeling for parents who actually believe they have a right to exploit women from developing countries so that they can afford their lifestyle. They want a full time employee without any of the responsibilities of an employer. Guarantee they wouldn’t accept this attitude from their own employer. If you want a full time employee, you need to pay at least minimum wage of your state. I get that childcare is crazy expensive, but women of color aren’t responsible for being exploited to fix that problem.

Ok? So maybe au pairs should be paid minimum wage but be responsible for their own housing, food, cell phone bills, gas, etc? Any idea how much all of that costs per month??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I struggle feeling for parents who actually believe they have a right to exploit women from developing countries so that they can afford their lifestyle. They want a full time employee without any of the responsibilities of an employer. Guarantee they wouldn’t accept this attitude from their own employer. If you want a full time employee, you need to pay at least minimum wage of your state. I get that childcare is crazy expensive, but women of color aren’t responsible for being exploited to fix that problem.

So…your proposal is to limit the au pair program to European au pairs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I struggle feeling for parents who actually believe they have a right to exploit women from developing countries so that they can afford their lifestyle. They want a full time employee without any of the responsibilities of an employer. Guarantee they wouldn’t accept this attitude from their own employer. If you want a full time employee, you need to pay at least minimum wage of your state. I get that childcare is crazy expensive, but women of color aren’t responsible for being exploited to fix that problem.

We have a German AP who comes from a similar socioeconomic background to ours. Who are we exploiting exactly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I struggle feeling for parents who actually believe they have a right to exploit women from developing countries so that they can afford their lifestyle. They want a full time employee without any of the responsibilities of an employer. Guarantee they wouldn’t accept this attitude from their own employer. If you want a full time employee, you need to pay at least minimum wage of your state. I get that childcare is crazy expensive, but women of color aren’t responsible for being exploited to fix that problem.

We have a German AP who comes from a similar socioeconomic background to ours. Who are we exploiting exactly?

The issue isn’t similar backgrounds but what you pay her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I struggle feeling for parents who actually believe they have a right to exploit women from developing countries so that they can afford their lifestyle. They want a full time employee without any of the responsibilities of an employer. Guarantee they wouldn’t accept this attitude from their own employer. If you want a full time employee, you need to pay at least minimum wage of your state. I get that childcare is crazy expensive, but women of color aren’t responsible for being exploited to fix that problem.

We have a German AP who comes from a similar socioeconomic background to ours. Who are we exploiting exactly?

The issue isn’t similar backgrounds but what you pay her.

She is from the same socioeconomic background and she has agency, and she understands and accepts that her compensation is not just the stipend.

She doesn't need Karens like you to advocate for her, and you should get a life.

[Anonymous]

Interestingly - an American au pairing in Germany gets $300 "pocket money" in exchange for 30 hours of child care per week. (+ living expenses)
A German au pair in US gets minimum $900 in stipend in exchange for up to 45 hours of work. So triple the cash for 1.5x the hours. (+ living expenses)

Would love to hear from the naysayers here who exactly is exploiting whom.

[Anonymous]

living anywhere in beautiful Germany for free is very different than in living in a god forsaken suburb in Maryland surrounded by highways with unlivable hot summers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I struggle feeling for parents who actually believe they have a right to exploit women from developing countries so that they can afford their lifestyle. They want a full time employee without any of the responsibilities of an employer. Guarantee they wouldn’t accept this attitude from their own employer. If you want a full time employee, you need to pay at least minimum wage of your state. I get that childcare is crazy expensive, but women of color aren’t responsible for being exploited to fix that problem.

I agree with the above sentiment. There’s no evidence that au pairs come from a similar socioeconomic background as the American parents who contract them. So anyone here saying that is highly questionable.

Foreign babysitters are getting abused here on several levels. If they report to the agency that the father of the child is raping them when the mother isn’t there, they’ll get sent home without compensation for the remainder of their contract. If they get pregnant and don’t get an abortion, they’ll quickly get sent home. The State Department should have made available a 24/7 hotline for these foreign girls to report abuses.

Of course there are indeed some lovely relationships out there without abuse, but zero mandated statistics. The State Department should have instituted exit interviews with the au pairs, and identified which agencies are the most corrupted.

Most parents love the program because of the cheap cost and the fact that essentially, these foreign young people are often trapped in abusive situations with little recourse. Opportunities for a rematch are extremely limited, and never guaranteed.

My heart goes out to anyone who has been the victim of abuse.