Anyone Use an Au Pair for Childcare?

I've had an au pair for four and half years now. I've had a different au pair each year, and while they were all different, they all added great insight and experiences with my 3 girls.

I joined because my oldest daughter has special needs, and needed someone to help drive to appointments, etc. What I found was that all the kids benefited from individual attention, not being in a crowded after school program with little supervision, and in the case of my youngest, she could still go to preschool - but only part time, as now she goes to dance or gymnastics, the park, zoo and other adventures with the au pair.

I use Cultural Care, but there are other good agencies (I just think mine is the best...) My au pairs have been from Poland, Finland, Sweden, Germany and now Sweden again. I stick with European girls as they seem to be the best drivers, but some friends have a Mexican au pair who is also really good.

I haven't had the issues with the girls not wanting to do the work, but I'm pretty up front about what the week will look like, what use of the car they will have - and they tell me after they arrive, there were no suprises.

Cost savings are nice, but be prepared to do your homework up front - and to spend a lot of hours thinking about how to integrate, working with au pair, bringing her to get her drivers license, etc. I found that I didn't do it until I was a year in - but when I spent the time, it made it way easier for the others who came after my first, Marta.. :-) I'm lucky she was so patient with us...

Good luck to you!

I am an LCC (local Childcare Coordinator) for Cultural Care Au Pair for over 19 years. I have worked with hundreds of au pairs and familes through the years. It is a wonderful rewarding experience. Many of the host families and their children have built lifelong relationships with their au pairs keeping in touch and even visiting each other.
Their are so many benefits to the au pair program some which are that it is affordable, cost remains the same regardless of the number of children, flexible shedule that can be tailored weekly to fit your needs. You the family gets local support. The au pair program arranges the visa and flights. The au pairs have health insurance.
Cultural Care also offers a personalized matching service.
This is just a few of the benefits of the au pair program.
If you would like more information please feel free to visit our website
www.culturalcare.com and or call 1-800-333-6056 option 2
http://mchazen.aupairnews.com
Good luck and let me know if I can help you in any way.
M.

I have had friends that had wonderful experiences and are still on the program after several years. I looked into Cultural Care AuPair but ended up not getting the job. My friend did not have luck with one country, but requested a different one and has gone with Thailand girls ever since. Their english is not great in the beginning but they are very dedicated & trustworthy.

I did not myself use an aupair but have friends that have. Their experiences were not great. The first didn't speak a lick of english, even though it is a requirement. The second decided it was too much work and "ran away"-eventually being sent back to her home country via the aupair service. She also left heafty bills for things she had signed up for in the US and the family is still receiving said bills but can't get the companies to understand that they aren't from someone currently in the home. They also had issues with the second aupair for security clearances. The wife works for goverment contracts and they were investigating her security clearance because of the second aupair. (both of 1 & 2 were from hispanic countries) #3 was from sweden, great sweet girl, but being so young had no desire to meet other people her age in the area, never left the house except to go to target, and was emotionally unable to handle the full year in this country-although she did finish her term.
Therefore, I chose not to use an aupair. It was only going to save me $ as long as I needed full time care for more than one child and you have to have a vehicle, insured, and a cell phone dedicated to the aupair from most companies. It just wasn't finanically feasible in the end for me. The family that had the aupair were pretty weathy so cost wasn't as much of an issue for them (they clear nearly a million a year).
Good luck