I totally agree with you, connecting if your LCC makes the whole different.
My point is that Cultural Care requires LCCs to have an additional level of contact and support to host families and au pairs than what I experienced with Au pair in America. Maybe AAIA have changed the rules, or my assigned LCC did not follow the requirements. But again this was just my experience.

I agree that you should try to reach out to an LCC in the area and make your on decision. Again feel free to contact me if you like to check in with an LCC from Cultural Care.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello,

I am a new LCC with Cultural Care and a former au pair with Au pair in America.
After going through the Cultural Care training I can tell you that Cultural Care is a great agency to work with.
Cultural Care makes sure that your assigned LCC is always available to help both you and your au pair. I cannot say the same for Au pair in America. Both me and my host family had a horrible experience with Au pair in America. Our LCC did not do half as much Cultural Care LCC are required to do on a monthly basis and thought the program year.

Let me know if you have any questions about the problem and would like to learn more about Cultural Care. My email is bruna.patterson@lcc.culturalcare.com

This must just really vary from person to person because our LCC for APIA is great.

And to add to my comment, I called and spoke with the LCC for CC and did not get the same strong feeling so that was the reason I picked APIA. So my advice to the OP is to speak with the LCCs and then decide. They both have big pools of applicants so make sure you have the best fit for you. I liked the matching process with APIA better and the LCC so that was why we went with them.

Cultural Care also has a large pool of families and au pairs in the area, making the adjustment of your new au pair much easier. Au pairs find all the support they need with the other au pair as well as the LCC. Cultural Care Au pair also provide a great support to host families.

I might be able to connect you with other host families in your area if you would like.

Thank you for the information about Go Aupair and Euraupair!

Anonymous wrote:Any information on Go AuPair or EurAupair?

I know a few EurAupair APs who were happy with the agency, especially from the assistance they received in their home country.
It's one of the smaller agencies, no? Contact them and meet with the local CC, as 09/30/2015 16:22 suggested.

We use greataupair and have been pleased.

Anonymous wrote:Any information on Go AuPair or EurAupair?

I know people in DC who used go aupair because they drew from particular countries they were interested in. Not as big a pool and thus not as many supports in the area as APIA and CC, but my friend was happy with her AP and their overall experience.

Any information on Go AuPair or EurAupair?

We are with Cultural Care. They seem to have a huge selection of au pairs from many different countries. There are 1200 available Au Pairs in their database. You can even search by country.
http://family.culturalcare.com/find-au-pair

The site allows you to browse au pairs, but to get any detailed info, you have to register with them.

I don't think you would find the support for Au Pair Care amongst most HFs who have used both that agency and another one. HFs seem to prefer APIA, CCAP, and Interexchange.

You should call all the agencies that have a large presence in your area and arrange to meet with the coordinator. Who you have as a LCC will be your primary relationship with the agency and will be the person you deal with if you ever have to go into rematch. So you might as well interview her before committing.

Nothing is keeping you from signing up with multiple agencies. Some will charge a small fee to register, but if you call the main office, that may be able to give you a code to join for free (or they may have special promos every now and then).

I am with InterExchange and I have been happy with them, but they may not have a large presence in some areas, which means smaller clusters, or being far away to other APs.

Au Pair in America does not have male APs but they are the only ones with Canadians.

The matching systems and search engines are also different depending on the agencies.

Cultural Care and InterExchange have exclusive matching, which means that when you find a candidate and select to interview, you are the only person who has access to the profile. (CC will hide candidates that are being interviewed, IE will grey them out only so you can still review).

Au Pair Care allows candidates to be reviewed by up to 3 families at once (I think, maybe someone can confirm). They will also filter some candidates out of your results automatically if they don't meet certain criteria- which I don't particularly like. I want to see everyone.

APIA is more free for all. No limit in terms of number of families that can interview an Au Pair, so there could be a bit more competition. If your family might be difficult to match (a lot of kids, less desirable area, far from center), you may prefer exclusive matching.

Also to consider...
If you ever go into rematch with CC or APIA, whatever you have spent on your AP until the day she leaves is pretty much lost (vacation, tuition). Then if you get a new Au Pair you are responsible for paying what left she is owed, which might mean double vacation, double tuition int he same year. Also both agencies will only give you a 'credit' if you decide to leave the agency. APIA and InterExchange will prorate vacation and tuition and will give you back prorated fees left in the year if you choose to leave early.

CC will pay for the AP's flight back if she goes into rematch and does not find a new family. The other agencies I listed will ask AP to pay for her flight.

Lastly, in general I have found the fees from APIA and CC to be generally more expensive that IE. I just receive my bill for next year and it is $7225 repeat family and twin discount). Maybe other HF can chime in with their rates?

Of course, there are many more agencies out there. I think it would be great to have a spreadhseet to compare all of them.... Maybe I should do this in my spare time!

On how easy to find APs from a specific country, I think it really depends on how large is the pool with the agency. You may want to ask when you speak with the coordinator. They have access to the entire pool and should be able to tell you how many are available from your preferred country/countries.

Depends which country you're interested in. The South Asian countries don't seem to be participants.

*it is easy, you just choose an option and what country you want!

Hello. Former Au pair here. Au pair care is the best agency. Countries, idk, I'm from Eastern Europe and I had amazing 2 years with my American family.
Good luck.

specific country?