Reply to First year and last year hosting

Forum Index » Au Pair Discussion

Reply to "First year and last year hosting"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]Unfortunately, this is the reality of the program now, and also why we will not be hosting APs again despite having two wonderful experiences. With my first two APs there were moments that felt like an ad for CCAP, but the lawsuit and the growth of social media have caused the program to become totally detached from its roots as a cultural exchange, and there has been no willingness from the state department or the agencies to try to steer it back.

As someone who also did study abroad, lived with a host family, etc, it used to be understood that a cultural exchange meant an opportunity for growth and learning, embracing all aspects of living with a family in a foreign  country, even when they weren’t Instagram-worthy. I don’t mean the abusive or rule-breaking families (which of course I know happens). I am just talking about how sometimes living abroad with a host family can be boring, or involve novel things you’re not used to, such as cooking with a cast iron pan, which was an actual reason my last AP requested rematch. My first two APs were really great with kids and had a commanding presence with no issues managing them. The last one, despite having a lot of supposed experience, couldn’t handle the different cultural approaches to child rearing. 
Based on my last experience, which was eerily shared by a number of people I know in real life, APs are looking for a vacation, and will request rematch the minute it gets unpleasant, and the agencies (at least CCAP) will happily oblige. I can’t do that again. Though I LOVED the program when it worked, I simply cannot rely on childcare where I am constantly worried about their emotional state and whether I will wake up one day and suddenly not have childcare. It is simply not a reliable or trustworthy form of childcare anymore. For the record, my kids are older and I used my APs for before/aftercare and driving. I would be especially cautious if I needed to rely on an AP for full time care.

It’s a shame because it’s such a wonderful idea in concept and when it works it’s amazing. But it’s just not an option nor is it healthy for my kids to have something so important in life — the person you’ve entrusted to take care of your kids and form an emotional bond — be so untrustworthy and mercurial, and to know that neither the agency nor your government cares.

(The abuse /misuse of the program by families is a real problem. I don’t have any faith that agencies or DoS have taken any meaningful steps to address that either.)[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics