I was reading the article posted in the "current news" section of this site talking about how Expert Au Pair is offering discounts to host families who find their au pairs on Great Au Pair. At one point in the article, you state that au pairs on the Great Au Pair site are "screened" -

"Some of the advantages for using this kind of service is that the au pairs are screened once by Great Au Pair and then again by the au pair agency you choose to have her get her visa and come into the country with. Double screening is not a bad idea!"

I have been a host family for years and know all about Great Au Pair, and it is completely incorrect to state that au pairs on this site are screened in any way! Anyone can log onto Great Au Pair and create a profile as an au pair and then be "browsed" by families. Try it! There are no requirements for age, amount of childcare experience, English ability, visa eligibility, etc. And none of the information listed on the candidates is checked for accuracy or truthfulness. In fact, of the thousands of the au pair "profiles" on this site, many are far from what any regulated agency would accept (I have seen some who would like to bring their children with them as your au pair!) Be careful, there is NO SCREENING on Great Au Pair! In addition, if you do find a candidate through this site, be sure that they will even pass the screening of one of the regulated programs. What a waste of a time to find an au pair candidate on Great Au Pair who seems wonderful only to discover that she doesn't meet one of the critical regulations that would prevent her from even becoming an au pair! (Does she have a high school diploma, what does her criminal background check look like, etc.) When you go with an agency who has already accepted a candidate, you are guaranteed that the applicants have already have overcome these hurdles. For a small agency, like Expert Au Pair, this is a clever way to supplement their candidate pool, but it does put more onus on the family to do more of the work. Is a $500 discount worth the extra time you will have to put in if you go this route? Maybe.

The second point I want to make is that most of the agencies have offered discounting for pre-matches, including those that come through Great Au Pair, for many years. If browsing Great Au Pair and doing all the leg work necessary to make sure they will meet the U.S. Department of State regulations is something you would like to undertake, Expert Au Pair is certainly not your only option. You truly do have a choice of agencies to work with as they all pretty much offer "deep" discounts for "finding your own au pair." Expert Au Pair may work for you, and that this great! But if you feel more comfortable working with a larger and more established agency with a broader reach, you do have that option.

I think that Great Au Pair was a great invention for the au pair industry and many families love it, but I think your readers should get the correct information on what this site is and what it is not.