Which agency is better Cultural Care or Au Pair in America

[Anonymous]

I'm new to the Au Pair world and we are considering becoming a host family. I have young children currently 4 month, 22 month, and 6 years old. I'm looking for advice and personal experiences with the different agencies. We are located in Alexandria, VA.

Can anyone offer advice or their personal experience with Cultural Care or Au Pair in America?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Beware of Cultural Care. They are great on the recruiting you end, but if you need them, they throw you under the bus. They also let aunpaors who should be sent home for hurting or neglecting their host kids go to new families, and they don't tell you the whole story.

So, in short, any agency is better.

[Anonymous]

I signed up and searched with both agencies. Ultimately I went with APIA because I liked their AP pool better. I am looking specifically for language, so I was narrowed down to a single country, which admittedly limited my options. I found the child care experience with toddlers to be more significant with the APIA candidates than with the CC candidates, even though there were more to choose from with CC. If age weren't a factor, I might have made a different choice.

Don't know anything about agency operations, but I've heard good and bad about both. Aside from my LCC disappearing completely for a while, I haven't had any issues.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. This seems like hosting an Au Pair could be a great option for us but I worry about getting someone that doesn't fit well with us. Or doesn't have the adequate experience to care for two small children and then we end up being stuck without good childcare.

[Anonymous]

APC is a good option. Btw beware of the nanny troll, she will be here soon to tell you: you are irresponsible to put two small children with an AP. Btw it is not an easy job but doable for the right AP,

[Anonymous]

I would sign up with both. This is what we did back in the days. We ended up with Cultural Care because they had the right au pair for us who was qualified and willing to care for infant twins. You can always get a coupon that waves the registration fee. I would then talk to your local LCCs (from both agencies). If you need help, your LCC is your first support person. So it's always good to get to know them. Then just start interviewing and see if you find the right candidate. The program can be great, but it also required work on your end (you have to integrate a new person into your family). You are right to be concerned about finding the right candidate who will be able to take care of your young children. If I were you, I would put the 22mo in a morning preschool. This will make it more manageable for the AP.


Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beware of Cultural Care. They are great on the recruiting you end, but if you need them, they throw you under the bus. They also let aunpaors who should be sent home for hurting or neglecting their host kids go to new families, and they don't tell you the whole story.

So, in short, any agency is better.

We had a really bad experience with an AP and while they weren't perfect, CC stepped up and did the right thing. I think a lot of it is dependent on your LCC -- ours wasn't great.

[Anonymous]

I’d avoid Cultural Care like the plague. Really bad experience with them. Agree with PP that they throw you under the bus and protect/rematch au pairs with known safety issues/dangers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would sign up with both. This is what we did back in the days. We ended up with Cultural Care because they had the right au pair for us who was qualified and willing to care for infant twins. You can always get a coupon that waves the registration fee. I would then talk to your local LCCs (from both agencies). If you need help, your LCC is your first support person. So it's always good to get to know them. Then just start interviewing and see if you find the right candidate. The program can be great, but it also required work on your end (you have to integrate a new person into your family). You are right to be concerned about finding the right candidate who will be able to take care of your young children. If I were you, I would put the 22mo in a morning preschool. This will make it more manageable for the AP.


Good luck!

I have seen a lot about LCC's contributing to the overall experience. What are indicators of a good or bad LCC when your in the first stages of searching for an Au Pair?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would sign up with both. This is what we did back in the days. We ended up with Cultural Care because they had the right au pair for us who was qualified and willing to care for infant twins. You can always get a coupon that waves the registration fee. I would then talk to your local LCCs (from both agencies). If you need help, your LCC is your first support person. So it's always good to get to know them. Then just start interviewing and see if you find the right candidate. The program can be great, but it also required work on your end (you have to integrate a new person into your family). You are right to be concerned about finding the right candidate who will be able to take care of your young children. If I were you, I would put the 22mo in a morning preschool. This will make it more manageable for the AP.


Good luck!

I have seen a lot about LCC's contributing to the overall experience. What are indicators of a good or bad LCC when your in the first stages of searching for an Au Pair?

It's a tough one, but you want someone, who appears engaged. And who appears to genuinely care about the APs and about the HFs. I have seen numerous LCCs who just seem checked out. FWIW, we love our LCC and we are with CC.

[Anonymous]

They’re all bad and will throw you under the bus for their own profit so I would not let this be a deciding factor. Have heard bad things about both and like others a lot is dependent on the competence of your LCC. You could do an intake with both and see which LCC you like better.
Had a bad rematch experience with CC and while I would not say I was happy with CCs overall response, they did kick my AP out of the program basically for reasons much less egregious than some horror stories I read here. They’ve gotten much more strict in the past few years I think (for both APs and families).

[Anonymous]

We had good experiences with both agencies. Out of 7 APs we had one rematch with ccap- they were good thru the process.
Apia was also good but have a very small pool of candidates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d avoid Cultural Care like the plague. Really bad experience with them. Agree with PP that they throw you under the bus and protect/rematch au pairs with known safety issues/dangers.

Yup, 100%

And I think the nanny troll is from a nanny agency. One time I was speaking with one and when I told them I was going to go with an au pair instead the claws came out!

[Anonymous]

We have had a good experience with APIA. This is our first au pair so we have nothing to compare it to, but they have been attentive when we have questions, but hands off otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Au Pair Care has been great!