Best Agency to Work With?

[Anonymous]

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For infants, I think an AP program is less ideal -- not impossible, but maybe not what the AP program is best suited for.

Appreciate all the advice from veteran AP host families. We are considering an AP for the first time with a 1 year old and 3.5 year old. Given the observations above regarding infants, do you think we should wait a few years before taking this leap?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been a host mother for many years, and have been with many agencies. I used to sign up for two or three, and go with the one where I found my au pair for that year.

1. Interexchange (also called AuPairUSA). I was with them many years ago, but they always had a pool of candidates IMHO inferior to other agencies; it was not easy to find what I was looking for (but I may be looking for someone with a different profile than you, so this is something to keep in mind.) Their pool of candidates at the time skewed very young and european, especially Eastern european. They also have a rematch policy where if you rematch after 6 months you lose a lot of money; they restrict rematches, and they also don't let you talk to the previous host family of a rematch candidate. They enforce this policy so it is not so easy to go around it. They are also small and if you do go into rematch, it is may be hard to find a good in-country candidate. However I would return to them if I found a perfect candidate, because I loved their customer service, both local representative and the front office. They have very low turnover at the front office, I think same people are there that were a decade ago, and they are truly great, and that is something. They are one of two non-profit agencies so their prices are very good and they offer generous discounts.

I just wanted to add a quick note that we will be rematching/leaving the program 3.5 months before the end of our term this year, and InterExchange has agreed to give us back 70% of our agency fee for the remaining timeframe.

[Anonymous]

Astar Education Institute located in Northern VA/Wash DC is the best program I have found so far for quality au pairs. They work conjunction with the au pair company named Au Pair 4 Me but there is a whole layer to this program that makes the candidates SOO much better than anything else I've found. They find nursing students and teachers from countries in Eastern Europe, China and India who have a specific degree program in mind instead of just using an au pair program to come to the US for a year or two. The Au Pairs earn a certification from Astar to become a nursing assistant at the same time they are doing the au pair program so there is twice the motivation to stay in the same area during the whole program, otherwise they will risk not completing the certification program.

Most of their candidates also have a teaching background in a classroom setting and some have even participated in a teacher exchange program in the US so they are much more familiar with living in the American culture and working with American kids. It has also made the care more conducive to growth because as teachers they understand the developmental needs and are better at thinking up creative things to do that don't include watching TV!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Astar Education Institute located in Northern VA/Wash DC is the best program I have found so far for quality au pairs. They work conjunction with the au pair company named Au Pair 4 Me but there is a whole layer to this program that makes the candidates SOO much better than anything else I've found. They find nursing students and teachers from countries in Eastern Europe, China and India who have a specific degree program in mind instead of just using an au pair program to come to the US for a year or two. The Au Pairs earn a certification from Astar to become a nursing assistant at the same time they are doing the au pair program so there is twice the motivation to stay in the same area during the whole program, otherwise they will risk not completing the certification program.

Most of their candidates also have a teaching background in a classroom setting and some have even participated in a teacher exchange program in the US so they are much more familiar with living in the American culture and working with American kids. It has also made the care more conducive to growth because as teachers they understand the developmental needs and are better at thinking up creative things to do that don't include watching TV!!!

Is this only true for Astar Education?
Au Pair 4 Me does not list any special requirements for ap applicants on their website. Just the usual "be between the ages of 18 and 26; be proficient in spoken English; be secondary school graduate, or equivalent; be in good health;" (http://www.aupair4me.com/au-pair/requirements.html). And there is nothing on au pairs on the Astar Education Institute website (http://astarinstitute.org/) as far as I could see.

[Anonymous]

I think 14:15 was a sock puppet for the agency. Sounded like an advertisement to me.

[Anonymous]

Our APiA local counselor was great -- until she wasn't! For situations that are somewhere in between 'good enough' and rematch - they don't really do much or care ... there are so many families in this area doing the program, they have too much to deal with and no real incentive to work hard for retention, because they are already overloaded. That said, au pairs work best for our current life situation, and the LLC has little or nothing to do with it or us.

[Anonymous]

The agencies all kind of stink for different reasons - look for the best AP you can across a few of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think 14:15 was a sock puppet for the agency. Sounded like an advertisement to me.

I agree it does.
I just can't believe that - advertisement or not - this would not be true if this really was the case.

Anyways. Has anyone worked with one of the smaller agencies (agent au pair, chi, euraupair) with any success?

[Anonymous]

Just to chime in on having an Au Pair for an newborn - I think it can work just fine, but you need to screen well and have realistic expectations. We chose an au pair with significant infant experience and I worked from home the first month she was here in order to make sure she was well trained before leaving her alone with the baby. Keep in mind the au pair can't be alone in the house with an infant under 3 months old and can't work more than 45 hours a week, which can be a challenge if you can't stagger schedules or have a long commute.

We used Interexchange and were pleased with them, though I agree with PPs about the smaller candidate pool.

[Anonymous]

Do you find that the candidates are interested in the family? I would be worried that with a program like this, the family and culitral experience plays second fiddle to completing the degree requirements. Also, the countries you listed are not known for great driving. What countries have you hosted with this Astar organization and how was their driving?

Anonymous wrote:Astar Education Institute located in Northern VA/Wash DC is the best program I have found so far for quality au pairs. They work conjunction with the au pair company named Au Pair 4 Me but there is a whole layer to this program that makes the candidates SOO much better than anything else I've found. They find nursing students and teachers from countries in Eastern Europe, China and India who have a specific degree program in mind instead of just using an au pair program to come to the US for a year or two. The Au Pairs earn a certification from Astar to become a nursing assistant at the same time they are doing the au pair program so there is twice the motivation to stay in the same area during the whole program, otherwise they will risk not completing the certification program.

Most of their candidates also have a teaching background in a classroom setting and some have even participated in a teacher exchange program in the US so they are much more familiar with living in the American culture and working with American kids. It has also made the care more conducive to growth because as teachers they understand the developmental needs and are better at thinking up creative things to do that don't include watching TV!!!