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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Serious question: why are host families still tolerating this BS? Are you all working night shift at the hospital or something where you need childcare at weird hours, so it's hard to find a nanny and daycare isn't an option?  Do you absolutely need someone fluent in Swedish or Chinese? I tried CCAP and APIA once each (rematched through CCAP, so 3 au pairs total. Didn't rematch with APIA because the pandemic was starting and I didn't want an au pair in lockdown). That was enough to know that it isn't the agency, it's the inherent flaws of the program.

I live in a second tier city in the Midwest, and no au pair has ever dreamed of living here. The only one who didn't start trying to rematch instantly to the big coastal dream cities was the one who had a boyfriend in this city and was desperate to get married for citizenship. This program is never going to work for families considered undesirable by au pairs in some way, whether it's geography or having 7 kids or a small house or whatever. As long as they are allowed to make up any reason or no reason that they're "unhappy" and rematch pretty much as soon as they get here, this is not going to be a reliable form of childcare.

After losing my job in the pandemic, I'm literally rearranging my career to avoid evening and weekend work so I can just use daycare, aftercare, and the occasional local babysitter. I need care I can rely on, and a dingbat au pair trying to secretly drive for Doordash using my car is not going to meet that need.
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We do have hospital shifts to deal with in our family.  At the same time, we are *done* with the AP program for the reasons PP described.  I am no longer going through tumult so that the agencies can make a buck.  And even before the pandemic, there were too many entitled au pairs--and then it became entitlement on steroids. One prior au pair was angry that she had more work watching one kid then her friend with 3 kids (mind you, or kid was in half-day pre-school---so translation---she didn't want to work).  Our first au pair was a true gem, but it's been a steady decline since. [/quote]

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