Would you like to Login or Register ?

Archive for 'Au Pairs'

Effective next Friday, July 24th, the stipend will be $195.75. 

We say the “week of July 24th” to make sure everyone is covered, so really any pay day next week should be at the new rate.   

 

 This is the third and final stage of the scheduled stipend increase. The stipend is set by the Federal government and is directly linked to the federal minimum wage. In the spring of 2007 a three step minimum wage was enacted, and this is the last stage of this planned increase.

New Visa Reqs for Czech and Mexican citizens visiting Canada

Effective immediately, all Mexican and Czech citizens require a tourist visa in order to enter Canada. This is an important change for Canada, and we wanted to make certain everyone was made aware.

For a complete list of all countries whose citizens require a tourist visa to enter Canada as well as information on how to apply for a visa, please follow this link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp

CCAP urges all au pairs and host families to check to see if they need a tourist visa for any country they plan to visit. If you have an au pair in your group looking to travel out of the U.S., it’s important that they check with their embassy/consulate to see if a visa is required. A great resource to find their embassy is www.embassyworld.com Rules and regulations regarding travel can change, so please take the time to educate yourselves about requirements early in planning your trips

• AP’s can leave within 30 days prior to their legal departure date only if:

1)       the HF forfeits their credits

2)       HF agrees to let AP leave early

3)       signs and understands that they will not receive the unused childcare weeks back as credits

4)       HFs are not eligible for refund when they received over 30 weeks of childcare

 

If the HF and AP agree that the AP could leave early, within 4 weeks (30 days) of her last legal working day and we are booking the APs flight home, then we won’t also give credit to the HF for the APs early departure. By HFs signing off on the au pair’s flight request form they are agreeing to the au pair’s early departure.

 

What about traveling in the 13^th month?

 

• The 30 day grace period, also known as the “13th month”, falls at the end of an au pair’’s program. This grace period allows au pairs time to say goodbye to their host family and friends, and to travel around the U.S. before returning home. During this time, the J-1 visa is not valid, and au pairs are not allowed to work nor can they travel outside the U.S. , as they will most likely be denied reentry.

 

The 30 day grace period applies only to au pairs who have successfully completed their program (full year, summer program or extension program.) To further clarify, if an au pair extends, this grace period gets moved to the month after their last extension month (i.e. month 19, month 22, or month 25) and cannot be used in between their first year and their extension term.  Finally, an au pair who leaves the program early, regardless of reason, or is terminated from the program by Cultural Care is not eligible to stay for the grace period and must leave the U.S. immediately.

 

When an AP signs the AP contract she agrees on this paragraph:

 

I understand that the Program is designated as a full year program with the possibility to extend for a further six (6), nine (9) or twelve (12) months. Should I voluntarily decide to return home before the regular end date of my program (including extension period) I understand that my flight will not be paid for and my deposit not returned. The exception to this will be in cases of my own extreme illness or the extreme illness or a death in my immediate family. Should I terminate or be terminated from the Program for any reason as outlined in this agreement, such termination will result in the following:

a) I will forfeit the return ticket and I will be required to make my own arrangements to return to my home country at my own expense;

b) I will forfeit the refundable deposit;

c) My CC insurance coverage will no longer be valid and no part of it refunded other than the 13th month optional insurance;

d) My status will be reported to U.S. Immigration and my participation in the au pair program will be canceled.

e) CC will not provide me with housing in the USA .

Sometimes families and au pairs are not sure what types of chores are approrpriate for au pairs, who are primarily child care providers. Here are some guidelines.

So, What is Light HouseKeeping?

 

This is what the Department of State says:

 

“While the primary responsibility of the au pair is to care for the children, au pairs can perform some household duties that are child related (meal preparation, light housekeeping, etc.)”

 

But what does that mean to you?

 

• AuPairs should expect to do any necessary cleaning associated with the children
  • Children’s Laundry
  • Children’s Bathroom
  • Children’s Bedrooms
  • Children’s Toys/Belongings
  • Preparation and Clean-up of Children’s Meals
• AuPairs should not do anything associated with the parents
  • Parent’s Laundry
  • Parent’s Bathroom
  • Parent’s Bedroom
  • Parent’s Belongings
• AuPairs should clean up after themselves
  • AuPair’s Laundry
  • AuPair’s Bathroom
  • AuPair’s Bedroom
  • AuPair’s Belongings
• AuPairs should always leave a room as neat or neater than when you arrived
  • If you sleep on it, make it up
  • If you wear it, hang it up
  • If you drop it, pick it up
  • If you cook or eat from it, wash it up
  • If you make a mess, clean it up
  • If you open it, close it.
  • If you borrow it, put it back

 

 

Above all, don’t give the host family any reason to feel that

having you in the house makes more work for them.

 

Read a lovely essay by one of the au pairs in our group. Can you figure out who wrote it?

This is a small part of my story about sailing into a brand new world. A story about (un)expectations, dreams, and plans for upcoming days.

            My story starts with a question: Is it easier to pack your own life into one, two suitcases when 18 or 25 ? I vote for the first one. As you growing older your decision-making process gets slower and decisions can seem more difficult, as you worry about the rightness of your decisions. I was one of those people.

            Yet here I am, in Swarthmore. Where? I had that question mark hanging above my head as well and a grimace that said: “Never heard of it”.  Fortunately, the Internet that helped me to find out that Swarthmore was small town in Pennsylvania, not far from Philadelphia, and well-known for its college place. What I didn’t know, and what you can only experience, was that Swarthmore looked like some place in fairy tale.  “Small” Victorian houses surrounded by flowers, parks filled with sounds of nature, a market on Saturday where people come to chat, a town where people greet one another on the street, where squirrels jump between houses. At the same time, everything seemed very similar and very different from my native town, Tuzla, in Bosnia.  Have you imagined the USA in this way?  I hadn’t. I have imagined the whole country as New York or Arizona.

Somehow, I never imagined these other types of places.

            Since I arrived, the hardest moment came when I closed a door of my room after meeting my new host family and asked myself: “What am I doing here, surrounded by these strange people?”. That question hung in the air for only a second before I remembered all my reasons for flying over the ocean to this place.  I needed change.  I had realized that my life was stuck in the same spot for a while.

            So, this journey has been unique opportunity for having new spiritual experiences, learning the English language, acquiring new acquaintances (and new friendships probably). It has been opportunity for me to wake up the child hidden within myself, take a rest from the problems in my country, and take deep breath before I move on. There is so much to do in this life. Who wants to spend their whole life in the same place?!

            I discovered another significant good reason for being here, too. Living in a different country with new people and surroundings and customs is a valuable experience in practicing patience and tolerance. This wouldn’t make sense if I weren’t surrounded by wonderful people, and wonderful children who are very easy to love.  It is never hard to love if you have an open heart. It is never hard to sail into new world when you have open mind. Maybe, it is too early to be talking about any kind of love that this place produces when I haven’t been for long but it feels as I have been here whole my life.

            Is that enough for you?  Each step ahead is new and different.  My brain feels full of new information at the end of each day, but I feel satisfied instead of tired. Using my very bad English in my first few days, I often felt like a Spanish cleaning-lady in a  Hollywood movie saying only one word: “OK! ” I didn’t think it was degrading but challenging.

            And let’s talk about expectations. Actually, I didn’t expect anything; I tried to keep an open mind. That way, whatever you get is a prize which makes you happy. It is easier to cope in that way. Although, this doesn’t mean you don’t have to try, dream your dreams, and make them come true.

            One of my dreams has started to come true. Here I am…. in Swarthmore…a fairy tale place which compels you to free yourself of stereotypes, learn to appreciate your own family more, learn to live with various people and to be happy at the same time. It compels you to dedicate to yourself and revert to real values you have unconsciously lost somewhere on life journey through time. And here I am…in Swarthmore, a small town where, believe or not, Santa Claus truly visits children’s homes on Christmas Eve leaving presents. It is time for me to wish for something too….

 

 

 

Families may register new au pairs for speciality training to begin a day before the usual New York training.

- Rules of the Road and Driving Practices
- Sharing Your Native Language with Children
- Caring for the School-Aged Child
- A Practical Introduction to the American Home

All classes include lectures and discussion, hands-on activities, in-class assignments and take-home manuals. This additional training in a specific area will help to help get their year together off to a great start!

Enrolling an au pair in a Specialty Preparation Class is easy. Host families simply visit our new on-line store at http://store.family.culturalcare.com and select which class they prefer. The deadline to enroll their au pair in a Specialty Preparation Class is 12:00 noon EST on the day after the finaling deadline.

Families can now purchase a welcome basket to be delivered to au pairs when they arrive in New York.

Host families can now purchase a customized Cultural Care Welcome Basket for their au pair to be delivered to the Training School in New York. All of our welcome packages include a New York City tour, a Cultural Care Training School Photo CD, snacks, Cultural Care gear and other popular au pair items. Families can add a personal greeting to their au pair and the basket will be waiting at the school for the au pair upon arrival. Au pairs are going to love all the fun, exciting and useful gifts in the Welcome Baskets and families have an easy, practical way to say “welcome” to their au pair!
Ordering a Welcome Basket is easy. Host families simply visit our new on-line store at http://store.family.culturalcare.com and select which basket or class they prefer. Welcome baskets must be ordered by the Thursday before their au pair’s arrival to the Cultural Care Au Pair Training School.

Au Pairs arrive in New York a few days before they get to meet their new Host Family. Many people wonder what do they do there? Here’s a glimpse of school in the Big Apple for our au pairs.

The schedule is long and very tight! The Department of State Regulations, are black and white about how many hours the au pairs must be in class- with out keeping them longer or with out cutting out our fun trip into NYC (especially wonderful for our au pairs leaving the east coast)- they have to be as long as they are.

·         Mondays are reserved just for arrivals- everyone has only 1 meeting they have to attend that lasts 30-60 minutes depending on the size of the group.

·         Tuesday and Wednesday classes go from 8:15 am – 8 pm at night (depending on the size of the au pair arrival). The au pairs have 2 breaks for meals (lunch and dinner, each one hour) and 2 breaks through out the day (30 minutes each).

·          On Thursday class starts at 8 am, but is over by 12:30. This is when we get them off for a day of fun and freedom in Manhattan .

Arrival to the School

All Cultural Care au pairs initially fly into New York to participate in a mandatory four day training course at the Cultural Care Au Pair Training School at St. John’s University . The Cultural Care School will be a great preparation for their year ahead. They will also be able to practice their English all week with the teachers and other au pairs. They will get lots of practical information on how to work with the children and communicate with their host family.

When the au pairs arrive at the school, they are jet-lagged, excited, and probably a little nervous about their brand new life in America . After five days of coursework, interaction with other au pairs, and a trip into New York City , they are ready to meet their host families. They depart feeling confident, socially-connected, and ready for the challenging year ahead.

Curriculum and workbook

Both the curriculum and workbook used at the school were developed in cooperation with The Children’s Foundation, a leader in early childhood education and childcare training. Founded in 1969, The Children’s Foundation sponsors the National Childcare Advocacy Project, conducts annual research on state childcare regulations and educates adults on providing quality childcare.

The Cultural Care Au Pair Training School curriculum complements the Cultural Care Au Pair Handbook and the pre-departure assignment that au pairs are asked to complete prior to leaving their home country. This ensures that all au pairs have received thirty-two hours of training in child safety and child development prior to arrival to the host family home.

The philosophy at the training school is “Children First.” Through discussions, hands-on exercises and role-play, teachers at the school focuses on how to create a safe and nurturing environment for children. All au pairs receive their own workbook containing information on health, safety, nutrition, positive guidance, communication and developmentally appropriate activities. Au pairs come away from the program with a well-rounded, practical knowledge of a child’s needs at each stage of development.

Wednesday’s schedule

7am - 8 am Breakfast 8:15am Class: The Au Pair as a Role Model; Cooperative Learning Groups (age specific child development projects), 3hrs 45mins 12:00pm - 1:00pm Lunch/ Internet 1:00pm Class: Child Development Project Group Presentations; Children’s Activities (arts & crafts/games), 4 hours 5:00pm Dinner 6:00pm Communication Workshop, 2 hours 8:00pm Movie, 2 hours 8:00pm Internet, 2 hours 8:30pm Internet, 1 hr 30 mins 8:30pm Movie, 2 hours

Class time is spent covering such topics as first aid, household safety, emergency procedures and childhood illnesses. Discussions also include child nutrition, interacting with children and building their self-esteem. The college campus environment is ideal for orienting your au pair to life in America . The au pairs will take part in lessons, group work, role play and hands-on activities.

Contact the school

Use this email: aupair.training.school@culturalcare.com if you would like to get in touch with a current au pair? Maybe you would like to send a message to the teacher you had here, or one of the staff members? You can email him/her at this address; the staff will print it out and pass it along. Also, if you have any thoughts you would like to share- good stories, feedback about the school, anything, and you can send an email!

St. John’s University
500 Montauk Highway
Oakdale, NY 11769

The au pair stipend is based on the minimum wage. Because the US just increased the minimum wage, Host Families will be required to pay au pairs an increased salary.

This also serves as a reminder to all host family participants that au pairs must always receive their stipend on a weekly basis and cannot provide additional hours of childcare or housework in exchange for additional pay.

For your reference, we have provided the dates below in 2008 and 2009 when the stipend will increase again per the incremental increase to the federal minimum wage:

• Thursday, July 24th, 2008 → increase from $157.95 to $176.85/week
• Friday, July 24, 2009 → increase from $176.85 to $195.75/week

• This is an Au Pair News blog. Learn more about our au pair childcare program:

  • what is an au pair?
  • view available au pairs
  • request information
  • current discounts
  • host family community
  • au pair videos