Reply to What’s it like having an au pair?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I've mostly heard wonderful things, but I had two friends who had problems.  One, her au pair started dating a married marijuana dealer, and became pregnant by him.  She moved the dealer into my friend's house and called him her fiancé.  Because of local landlord-tenant laws and the various rights under the au pair visa program, my friend could not simply fire her and/or kick her out.  She had to hire a lawyer, evict them, and pay the au pair significant money to go away.  The other seems mild by comparison, as her au pair just got several traffic tickets that included a threat of jail time (reckless driving in VA).  She also had to hire a lawyer for the au pair.[/quote]

Whoa! I've been a host mom for 10 years now (last au pair leaves in a few months) and never heard a story as bad as the first one. In fact, I don't believe it, as there are a ton of rule violations that are both contractual and legal in nature. I suspect this was not a legal pair program at all but someone who came over as an "au pair" from somewhere (friend of a friend's kid etc.)

Anyhow OP, essentially the key to the whole thing is:
1) Being ok with another person living in your house. Sometimes they hang around in the evening. Sometimes, they need a lot of TLC. 
2) Finding a good LCC. Ask the agencies if you could speak to the LCC for your area before you agree to go with them. They can be super helpful or completely useless.
3) Good spidey sense. When you are interviewing candidates, I personally look for personality/intelligence and train for skill on the job. You want a smart, capable young woman or man who basically likes being around kids. I've learned that having been a preschool teacher or a degree in education really doesn't matter much. It's far more important that they are able to problem-solve on their own, are responsible, organized, funny, flexible, conscientious and curious. [/quote]

Unfortunately, the first story is true.  Obviously an outlier.[/quote]

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