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Thank G for my au pair!
Posted by keletrooper on 09/07/2009
As a busy working corporate mom, I knew that the au pair program had the possibility of being a great program for my family, however, it has far exceeded my expectations. This is not to say that everything has been perfect, or that we have not had to adjust at time to cultural differences or working with and giving feedback to a young person who is still growing up and learning how to be an adult. The challenges are outweighed by the positives ten-fold.
Cultural Care has been so helpful to our family in many ways.
1. During the matching process, I was able to speak to someone directly about our preferences and learn more about cultural differences and differences in skill-sets such as driving differences, differences in how conflict is resolved culturally and language levels. Before I choose cultural care, I tried greataupair.com, but after hours of searching and communication, I was stressed by the competitiveness and feeling like I was alone trying to make an important decision and found it difficult to navigate. Through Cultural Care, I found a support system and even spoke to families who used the service and learned great tips of the trade. I even was able to access sample applications and family handbooks so that I knew the important things to think about when making my families.
2. After our au pair joined us, she had difficulty making friends (an unusual challenge since many families complain that au pairs are never home). Our LLC really helped and in a matter of a week, our au pair was out and had a group of friends that really helped make her experience wonderful.
3. A few months after our au pair arrived, due to some challenges, I had to call CC because I needed some extra time to make my last payment. They helped me and allowed me to pay on a schedule and were very understanding of my circumstances.
Sometimes I read reviews of different companies and I wonder if the people that write them have actually ever tried to resolve their problems or just like to complain....also, for every time I read something bad written about au pairs, I think about the families that I know who make their au pairs work extra hours and don't pay them on time. My experience with an au pair agency has been far better than what some of these people write, which makes me wonder?
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Cultural Care doesn't care
Posted by Guest G. on 02/24/2009
Parents, beware of Cultural Care. Parents, don't put your children in harms way. Although they claim they comply with the basic procedures stated by the US Department of Labor, Cultural Care will not go far when it comes to standards in their screening process. Candidates abroad can and will lie in their applications just to get a foot in the States. Candidates, especially from underdeveloped countries where there is a poor or inexistent record keeping system, are free to lie and won't get caught when applying. In many cases, mothers, relatives and friends suffice as references and as proof of childcare, at least to Cultural Care. How trustworthy. It's up to you to reject these applications because Cultural Care certainly won't. Once in the States, problematic and dangerous candidates will get recycled and go from host family to host family so Cultural Care doesn't take a loss. Your loss? Your child's loss? Who cares? Cultural Care doesn't.If recycling a candidate through their system they will hide information from you regarding previous families and their contact information, whether you request this or not at the time of selecting the candidate.Watch out for these money predators that paint the prettiest picture and will use your children as a gateway to your pockets. Watch out for money predators that don't care if your children are endangered or get hurt.
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Inferior and unethical. Your family deserves better.
Posted by DisgustedParent on 02/11/2009
Don't put your children in harms way. Although they claim they comply with the basic procedures stated by the US Department of Labor, Cultural Care will not go far when it comes to standards in their screening process. Candidates abroad can and will lie in their applications just to get a foot in the States. Candidates, especially from underdeveloped countries where there is a poor or inexistent record keeping system, are free to lie and won’t get caught when applying. In many cases, mothers, relatives and friends suffice as references and as proof of childcare, at least to Cultural Care. How trustworthy. It’s up to you to reject these applications because Cultural Care certainly won’t. Once in the States, problematic candidates will get recycled and go from host family to host family. They will only be sent back to their countries if anything bad really happens to your child, not if it didn’t because you or a higher power was watching. So your kid needs to actually get hurt to some extent in order for them to be sent back home. Until this point, an au pair from Cultural Care will stay for as long as she can, and continue to make money so Cultural Care doesn’t take a loss. Your loss? Your child’s loss? Who cares? Cultural Care doesn’t. If recycling a candidate through their system they will hide information from you regarding previous families and their contact information, whether you request this or not at the time of selecting the candidate. Watch out for these money predators that paint the prettiest picture and will use your children as a gateway to your pockets. Watch for money predators that don’t care if your children are endangered or get hurt.
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Inferior and unethical. Your family deserves better.
Posted by DisgustedParent on 02/11/2009
Don't put your children in harms way.
Although they claim they comply with the basic procedures stated by the US Department of Labor, Cultural Care will not go far when it comes to standards in their screening process. Candidates abroad can and will lie in their applications just to get a foot in the States. Candidates, especially from underdeveloped countries where there is a poor or inexistent record keeping system, are free to lie and won’t get caught when applying. In many cases, mothers, relatives and friends suffice as references and as proof of childcare, at least to Cultural Care. How trustworthy. It’s up to you to reject these applications because Cultural Care certainly won’t.
Once in the States, problematic candidates will get recycled and go from host family to host family. They will only be sent back to their countries if anything bad really happens to your child, not if it didn’t because you or a higher power was watching. So your kid needs to actually get hurt to some extent in order for them to be sent back home. Until this point, an au pair from Cultural Care will stay for as long as she can, and continue to make money so Cultural Care doesn’t take a loss. Your loss? Your child’s loss? Who cares? Cultural Care doesn’t.
Watch out for these money predators that paint the prettiest picture and will use your children as a gateway to your pockets. Watch for money predators that don’t care if your children are endangered or get hurt.
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Have hosted 4 great au pairs!
Posted by lori-22 on 12/30/2008
We have hosted 4 au pairs and just love the flexibility and cultural exchange the program has given our family. While we expect the company to screen candidates to a certain point, we have learned that the final decision about which au pair will work best with our family is truly our responsibility. . .
Our experience with our two LCCs (we have had a change) has been extremely positive. In addition the customer service from the main office has been strong. I was a bit annoyed by their invoicing (our payments crossed and we received some aggressive "collections" messages. . .) but overall, I believe that they are the best au pair provider out there given their long history, excellent local support and overall best choice of candidates. In addition, I do believe the company listens to customer feedback and makes changes and improvements.
Au pairs are not for everyone, for sure. .. and there are some horror stories out there... the more involved you are as a host family in every step of the process (interviewing, training when the au pair gets to your home, etc. . . .) the better your experience will be.
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Good Customer Service, Poor candidate screening
Posted by kfbeckner on 08/01/2008
We recently completed a year with CCAP and decided not to continue with the program because of our lack of confidence in the screening process. We had two au pairs during the year. We interviewed both extensively, as well as other candidates that we turned down. We contacted the first candidate multiple times via phone and email. The second candidate we spoke with in person. In hindsight, it became apparent that because the girls are so eager for placement, they will tell you what they think you want to hear. In the very short time frame for choosing a candidate - 3 days, which is especially short when you are dealing with different time zones - it can be extremely difficult to ascertain the sincerity of an individual you have just met. Also, since most parents don't have interview experience, I feel it is incumbent upon the agencies to perform better screening. That is a big part - perhaps the most important part - of the service you are paying the agency a hefty fee for. I had asked the first au pair why she wanted to be an au pair. I forget the specifics of her answer, but it was on target. After she arrived and was feeling comfortable, she told me she had applied for the program on a whim. I had expected - incorrectly - that the agency's screening process would have weeded out such a candidate.
When our first au pair left, the local care coordinator asked her if the local recruiter had accurately set her expections of what it would be like to be an au pair, or did they make it seem like it would be a vacation? She replied that she did not have an accurate expectation. The fact that the LCC even asked the question indicates to me that a lack of realistic expectation setting for au pair candidates is obviously a problem in the recruitment process. Our second au pair told me that expections were not set accurately - I agreed - and we both reported this to CCAP. Our LCC also admitted to having multiple (at least 2) terrible au pair experiences before finding someone she was happy with - and she works for the company, for heaven's sake!
We also followed CCAP's suggestion to document all of the house rules and position responsibilities in our 'family handbook', which we did, and both au pairs enthusiastically agreed they would have no problem at all abiding by them. Unfortunately, they both elected to disregard the majority of the rules and responsibilities once they were actually placed in our home. I would like to point out that I did very little authoring of the rules. I was sent two actual family handbooks by an LCC who indicated they were very typical examples of real rules. It was very helpful to have a template to follow. I removed rules that were not applicable to our family and tweaked the remainder. The rules were cited by our first au pair as the primary reason that she no longer wanted to stay with our family. When we discussed the "problem" rules with our LCC, our LCC also stated that those rules were very typical. For example, no incoming calls after 9 pm (we had an infant and a 2 year old). Outgoing calls were fine as long as it was OK with the family being called.
Many friends and family members indicated they would not even consider hosting an au pair based on seeing our experience first hand. It was very disappointing, because we had high hopes of welcoming someone into our home when we started the program.
On the positive side, the home office staff and LCCs (we dealt with a few due to transitions) were generally very responsive. Unfortunately, that was not enough to compensate for the lack of quality of the candidates.
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Wonderful Experience
Posted by pages123 on 05/15/2008
We are now hosting au pair number 4 and have always had great experiences. Cultural Care has a very personalized and careful matching process and has given us all the support we needed. Families who have had a bad experience need to realize that it is up to them to select the au pair that they feel comfortable with and not just take the first best application they come across. Host families play a very important part in this cultural exchange program and cannot just blame everything on the girls or the agency. We love hosting au pairs and think that Cultural Care has done a wonderful job.
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Cultural Care Au pair
Posted by hillsidemom on 01/21/2008
Candadates are reviewed just as much as you can review them. Remember this is under the J1 visa where the young women and men are to come to the US for a cultural exchange. As an employer we have to interview and if we are not satisfied go into the au pair's references. It comes down to us the employer doing OUR job. Good program!
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Never use this service
Posted by RoxyCT on 12/18/2007
I would not reoommend this service. Their au pairs are not screened well. Customer service is horrible. At times their au pairs may even be ones that have caused harm to other babies in the past. They still keep them in the program and switch them to other families. Do not trust them with your precious little babies !!!
Business Response
All host families are required by the US State Department to call and interview the au pair candidates prior to deciding whether or not the au pair will be a good fit for them. The family has all the decision-making power and it's important to interview them carefully before making a final decision. If an au pair has harmed a child and we have definite proof of that, they will be sent home. However, we must consider both sides of a story and cannot accuse an au pair of abuse without being absolutely certain that it occurred. I'm sorry if you did not have a good experience with us, but we do strive to provide good customer service and do our best to provide customers with quality candidates. - Amy
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Answers
Posted by mirandareid on 01/29/2007
I particularly liked this site because it answered most questions an inquirer would have such as rates.
