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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP put her AP in a lose/lose situation: Be late for pick up, or take the car without a car seat (or take the car and realize once there that you are missing the car seat?). This should be easily avoided by having a seat in all cars used to transport the children. Of course this could have been avoided if AP were early for pick up- but that is something that could happen to any of us and being 'almost late'  or even late by a few minutes does not endanger anyone.

I think this is a prime example that we should not jump to conclusion. We often hear only parts of the story (from either side) and make the other party appear like a monster.[/quote]

She could have noticed she was running later (for whichever reason, it really doesn't matter why, for all we know she could have been taking classes which ran late or could have done housework she was aked to do - I doubt there is one person out there who has never been "last minute" on something), jumped in the car to pick the child up on time and when arriving at the school she could have noticed there was no car seat in the car.

Did she know where the car seat was? Did she know it wasn't still in your friend's car? When she got in the car, should she have noticed the car seat was not installed (ie. did it sit right next to the driver's door or was it in the hall or the kitchen or the basement where it could have been easily overlooked)? Did she know how to install it? Did she run an errand you had requested? Anything urgent?
Have you ever taken your child anywhere without a car seat? Could this be a case of "do as we say, not as we do"?
Did she admit she drove your son without a car seat or are you basing your accusations on something your three year old told you? Did she give a (any) reason for what she did?

What gets me is then driving past home to run another errand with the child in the car. I think I could overlook a short ride with no car seat, arriving at school by car to pick up the child to run an errand for the family after pick-up and then notice that the car seat isn't in the car, where it should be and would usually be... what to do? Leave the child behind, drive back home, park the car, walk back to pick up the child? Or walk home with the child, leave car at school, get car seat, carry car seat to school, drive back home with child? But at least from there on she should have been smart enough to drive home, put the car seat in the car and then run the errand.

My host parents left me without a car seat once (HD took the family car which had one car seat installed, HM took the van which had the second car seat installed due to a weekend trip) and I would never have taken the baby (then 2) for a ride anywhere without the seat. Yes it was a bit of a loss for me as we had had plans for the day and now were stuck at home but fortunately there was no real reason for us to drive anywhere (older kids came home by bus, nobody got sick and had to be picked up, no errands, no appointments etc.). Making sure the AP has the equipment necessary to do her job (car, car seat in the car - it doesn't matter if she usually drives, if there is any reason why she might have to pick up the child by car and would be allowed to pick up the child by car in an emergency or bad weather) is part of the host family's responsibility, that equipment should be readily available to her. After uninstalling the seat from the friend's car, it should have been installed in the car immediately. But it is also her responsibility to use said equipment and to know how to handle it. Going into rematch makes complete sense in this case but this is a situation you need to try to prevent in the future. And you need to provide your next AP with the necessary tools to handle a similar situation, some APs need it spelled out, not everybody is smart enough to realize how best to react in similar situations.[/quote]

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