difference between Au Pair America and Cultural Care Au Pair?

[Anonymous]

Hi. We are new to considering being a host family. Please share with us the pros and cons of each. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We've actually been with both. They're both huge agencies of course, so I've found the selection of candidates to be about the same. There are some distinct pros and cons with either in our experience, but I would caution that anything other than the policies of the companies is going to vary widely depending on the au pair you choose, your LCC and the other au pairs in your cluster. Based on our personal experience, we are sticking with APIA. Our LCC with APIA is so so so much better than our CC one, for one. I've heard anecdotally that CC LCCs are paid based in the number of families they have in their cluster, so they are more focused on gaining and keeping families than they are on giving good guidance (even if it means losing a family) and creating resources. I'm not sure that's true, but in our experience our LCC at APIA just blows our CC LCC out of the water in all areas.

I've heard that APIA has a better reputation among the au pairs - that they all know that APIA treats their au pairs more fairly. I've also experienced that my APIA au pairs and their friends were far more prepared for what being an au pair really is. They were more responsible young adults, actually looked forward to attending the monthly meetings, etc. Both of our CC au pairs were somewhat shocked that it wasn't a year-long party. And they're friends were all immature and complaining about their host parents too. Could have been the ones we picked of course, but the difference between them and our APIA au pairs was striking.

We only went through rematch once with APIA and it wasn't anyone's fault - a health reason that caused the AP to have to return home quickly. They were amazingly helpful, had completely fair policies, actually offered me a prorated refund of my agency fee, etc. Based on my rematch experience alone, I am an APIA convert forever to the point that we don't even look anywhere else. And really, although you think it will never happen to you, rematch can come out of the blue (like for us - random health reason) and you will be losing your mind that you have no child care suddenly and someone is holding your $8,000 agency fee. APIA handled us expertly.

The other major difference is that CC holds the au pair candidate for you so she can only talk to one family at a time. They say this reduces competition, I say this makes au pairs sort of desperate to match with whoever picks them early on because they don't get to talk to many families and compare their options. It's also frustrating for me personally because it seems like the good ones get snapped up right away and I can't even have a chance to talk to them because they're held in someone else's account. With APIA, au pairs can be in the accounts of many host families at a time. Yes, this means you might not get someone you want because they may select a different family, but I'd rather not have an au pair who is settling for me - I want her to be the right person for our particular job.

Other than those personal experiences, A few pros and cons come to mind below:

Cultural Care
Pros: more modern website with lots of search features; many more specific questions on the application (though in my experience this hasn't been that helpful - applications are like resumes and interviews where everyone puts their best spin on everything - all the au pairs who want to come to the Us because they "just love kids!!" is a great example); slightly cheaper (for both the families and the candidates); has male au pairs.

Con: requires the 1.5 days off to be consecutive (if you have her work Friday or Monday, you can have her work Saturday night), no upper tier of au pairs with more experience (they say this is a good thing because you don't have to pay more for the more experienced au pairs - to me in has just meant I have never found anyone with the experience I really want); seem to accept people with very very little child care experience;

APIA
Pros: all the things I talked about above really. I think more fair policies, better reputation, better LCC, etc.

Cons: slightly more expensive, website is not as good

[Anonymous]

Oh also, APIA has a group of extraordinaire candidates that are far far more qualified than the rest of the pool. We've had these and they are well worth the extra money.

[Anonymous]

We have also been with both and totally agree w pp. Our Lcc from Apia was amazing. We are on our second in four months with ccap. The cluster meetings w ccap are all 7-8 clusters combined (easier for te LCcs to plan) - too many for the APs to meet anyone they don't know - and the APs seem to get no support. On the other hand, with Apia, our APs loved their meetings and enjoyed the mix of smaller conversation meetings and larger group gatherings. And the APs definitely felt better looked after w Apia. We had challenges w an ap last year, and both we and our AP got great support from our Lcc. I'm convinced our match lasted because of her, and it ended up being a good one in the end.

The only reason we switched was to host a male ap. Apia is bringing male APs over next year if families prematch, so we are considering prematching just to be able to switch back to Apia. It's definitely worth it.

[Anonymous]

I also have been with both. I actually have had a better LCC with CC than APIA. My LCC with APIA was a joke and completely useless. Both of the APS I had with them agreed with me and we were unimpressed. I happened to register with CC this past year for comparison. ..and happened to find my current AP with them instead as well as was impressed with my LCC. I'm not sure where you are located OP or where the PPs are located but in my cluster (NoVA)...the cluster meetings are small and have been at meaningful places/topics. When my AP went home early from APIA they were generous with the refund. But they are expensive. I found the support I've gotten from CC this year has been great and my kids are really enjoying our AP this year. I think you can find a quality AP at CC too if you are diligent. I was not impressed with what was available at APIA last summer ...so that's why the AP we did pick was with CC.

OP...I would advise you to register with at least 2-3 agencies. It's free and you will get a good sense of how they run and who your LCC will be. I did not pursue APC because I could not see dealing with my LCC from there. ..and they are the most expensive. Search the archives...and definitely check out www.aupairmom.com for more advice on this and other topics!!!

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I'm 10:40 and the PP above is the reason I said much of your experience will vary. I would strongly recommend meeting the LCCs from both agencies and checking out their websites. You will be able to tell a lot from the sites in terms of how much information and resources the LCC makes available and how active the cluster is.

As I said, the only thing that you know will be different is their policies. Read the fine print on how they count hours, rematch policies, and refunds in particular. Also see how they handle the "hidden" fees - travel to your hoke from training school, match fee, etc. APIA ended up only a few hundred more for us (and since we were so happy with them, that was well worth it). They both do discounts and switching savings to.

[Anonymous]

I went with Euraupair and we are very happy.

[Anonymous]

Cc picks your potemeital matches for you. Apia lets you search a big database. Cc forces you to provide a comseutive 1.5 days off per week. Apia says 1.5 days off per week but consecutive is unnecessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cc picks your potemeital matches for you. Apia lets you search a big database. Cc forces you to provide a comseutive 1.5 days off per week. Apia says 1.5 days off per week but consecutive is unnecessary.

First sentence not completely true. You have a placement manager, just like at APIA. She might suggest a match...but you can also search their database and reserve APs.

I know...that's how I found my last two APs with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cc picks your potemeital matches for you. Apia lets you search a big database. Cc forces you to provide a comseutive 1.5 days off per week. Apia says 1.5 days off per week but consecutive is unnecessary.

First sentence not completely true. You have a placement manager, just like at APIA. She might suggest a match...but you can also search their database and reserve APs.

I know...that's how I found my last two APs with them.

The APIA and CC matching process is different - although the first poster isn't correct. Both agencies have match coordinators that will do the matching for you if you give them your needs and both also let you search the big database (CC has many more search criteria options). In the past, CC did not let you search yourself, but now they do.

I personally haven't had good luck with giving the match coordinator my specifications and then sitting back and having them match me with people. I've never gotten anyone that I've wanted to match with this way, not a single time - even when I give them very specific requirements. I'm not sure why, but it just seems to work better for me to search myself.

The big difference is that CC reserves the candidate for you exclusively. So if you (or anyone else) puts a candidate in your account, then no one else can see her until you release her. APIA allows up to something like 12 (not sure of the exact number) families to have a candidate held in their account. CC says this reduces competition between host families - the au pair is held just for you and so doesn't know that another family might be out there offering better "perks". I personally think this is ill advised - I want my au pairs to have spoken with a few host families so they know what's out there and make the best choice for them. There are going to be some families out there that offer exclusive car access, private suite, etc. - if those things are important to a candidate, I certainly don't want her to feel like she has to match with my family (that doesn't have those things) because she can't talk to anyone else.

It also frustrates me because I feel like I have to be constantly checking the search and select feature on the CC website. You frequently see a candidate and then minutes later, you can't see her anymore because someone else has snapped her up. This makes me feel like there are all these great au pairs that I can't even see because they're being held in someone else's account. Makes me really antsy during matching time.

Obviously, I strongly prefer the APIA matching process myself. But I have heard others that like the CC one. No reason you shouldn't try both and see what works for you. But know the differences so you know why you're seeing the candidates you're seeing.

[Anonymous]

I strongly agree with 8:58. We are one of the pps who has been with both agencies, and I prefer the Apia matching system as well. I was very concerned to learn that the AP we matched with through ccap this year had not spoken to any other families. So he had no idea what else was out there. I spent a lot of time telling him during matching that he could get other perks from other families just so he knew it were possible, because I didn't want him to get here and be sorry about our small house or at times difficult children. We are the family above using male APs, and I so wish Apia would just embrace bringing males over rather than requiring us to prematch because I'd rather match through Apia (and have the Apia Lcc) next year.

That said, I love the ccap application for both APs and hfs. So much more thorough and explicit!

[Anonymous]

Sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to allow these adolescent foreign kids to speak with only one family at a time. I'd think that unfair practice would be illegal. Wouldn't you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to allow these adolescent foreign kids to speak with only one family at a time. I'd think that unfair practice would be illegal. Wouldn't you?

Nope.

Adolescence describes the teenage years between 13 and 19 and can be considered the transitional stage from childhood to adulthood. However, the physical and psychological changes that occur in adolescence can start earlier, during the preteen or "tween" years (ages 9-12).

Most APs coming here are 19 and older...so adults.

Adults that can make their own decisions about things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to allow these adolescent foreign kids to speak with only one family at a time. I'd think that unfair practice would be illegal. Wouldn't you?

Nope.

Adolescence describes the teenage years between 13 and 19 and can be considered the transitional stage from childhood to adulthood. However, the physical and psychological changes that occur in adolescence can start earlier, during the preteen or "tween" years (ages 9-12).

Most APs coming here are 19 and older...so adults.

Adults that can make their own decisions about things.

....Especially if presented with options.

[Anonymous]

I like the CC matching process better because I have a "less desirable" family: 3 kids. When we were with APIA, I felt the APs were always holding out for a better deal and trying to get the families to bid against each other. The LCC support, otoh, is bad with CC. We constantly get a new LCC and the cluster is really spread out.
Anyway, all this doesn't really matter if you match with a great AP.