Compliant against au pair agencies that do not deliver what they claim they will to all au pairs
I think this is a very terrible situation for the ex-au pair of the Bhatti family. I wonder, how much help did her agency, Cultural Care, actually give her? Did they hire a lawyer for her? Did they pay for counseling for this girl? Also, I think that the girl and her family should request monetary damages from the agency who was "supposed" to ensure that the girl would be placed with an American family who was properly screened.
I have witnessed many foreigners take advantage of these young au pairs in my development. They overwork the girls, over the 45 hours limit and make them do housework and yard work. They also do not help them learn English as they insist on speaking their native tongue in the family and what au pair wants to be placed in a family that only speak French, Russian or Arab? Many of the au pairs in my cluster complained bitterly about this and the agencies do not seem to care. As long as they get paid, they do not seem to mind and the girls go home disallusioned about the au pair program. It speaks poorly about not only our cultural exchange program but about America in general and I do think that should be addressed by the US government that is supposed to oversee these agencies!
You Are not Logical in your argument here
Dear HostMomdp,
First, I never said anything related to Mr. Bhatti and his crimes and the fact he was from Pakistan! Where did you see that? It is not part of my comment - you added that yourself!
I have read many of your comments here on this website and you are always on the attack when anyone mentions Cultural Care in a negative light. Your comments are often emotionally charged and without merit. And, you often engage in illlogical reasoning when you respond to another's comments.
Foreigners often do abuse the rules that govern au pairs and they do make au pairs work overtime more than the average American, I do think this is true. It is part of their cultural. For example, most Russian families that I know treat their au pairs like servants. It is part of their culture to do so. They also do not respect the fact that au pairs come to America to learn English and they do not care. They lie to their au pairs and say "yes, of course we speak English in our homes" and then once the au pairs arrive, they do whatever they please. The au pairs become upset and unhappy but the host family does not care.
So, I am talking about Cultural Differences and today, when people talk about cultural differences, they are often accused of being politically incorrect or insensitive. It is okay to talk about differences without being labeled as "insensitive." I am not a bigot and I am not insensitive about other nationalities, I merely point out what I observe in my own neighborhood and I think my observations, for the most part, are correct.
Yes, American host families can be just as insensitive, but I am not making that point! So, don't get off the track by getting emotional and accusing and making up things I said that I didn't!
Also, I would like to point out, to Edina, that this Hostmom often breaks the rules set up by your website regarding the Comment Policy. I would suggest that you monitor this host mom and delete her comments when she becomes argumentative and attacks other host moms who get on here to weigh in with their opinions and comments!
Ignore advocates of Cultural Care
Dear Marcie, ignore these kinds of bloggers. They are filled with anger and resentment that their agency is shown in a negative light. They want to block out their commentary and posts. If you look online, all the past complaints registered against Cultural Care are gone, taken off Complaints.com. I don't know how they manage to do this, but it has happened several times in the past few months. I know, since I was one of the parents who posted our experience with one of the au pairs.
Cultural Care is desperate to gain their customers back, but I think once harmed these parents will not return, not for any money. And they shouldn't as this agency continues to be one of the worse, if not the worse, agency in the USA.
If you review any of the big name, worse case scenerios that can happen with au pairs and to au pairs, Cultural Care always comes out first!
Take the first major media story, Louise Woodward, that girl was hired through Cultural Care. Did this agency learn anything since this case that happened over 10 years ago?
No, I think not, you only have to look at recent news about their au pairs sexaully abused by host dads and au pairs abusing children left in their care: http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2009/01/24/news/doc497abc21bb9d1428657573.txt; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukm1tAq2ENM
My family and friends are committed to telling every young parent, avoid this agency, you have other choices (there are 8, 9 legal agencies in the country, so why choose this company) and you would be wise to avoid such a careless agency.
Discussing Cultural Differences
Marcie, I think you and anyone else, have the right to discuss, intelligently, differences between cultures. My co-worker is French for example and her family hires only French au pairs. They often become friendly with my Chinese au pairs. However, these au pairs are not so happy after they arrive and come to find out their new host family only speaks French in their home. They expect the au pair to do so also. Of course the family has the right to speak any language they want, but they should not use the cultural exchange program for their child care needs since these French girls come over to improve their English!!
That is the number one reason these au pairs sign on to our au pair programs. Of course the agencies know these "foreign" families are prone to break this rule (and yes, it is a program requirement that all families speak English in the home) but they look the other way in order to keep the host family on and their program fees.
So who loses? The au pair of course and yes, they do go home, disillusioned and upset with America and their au pair programs. This may in turn, keep away some great au pairis who see "through" the cultural care programs and find another program that does not cheat the au pairs out of what they pay for and expect.
I share your concerns, but...
I posted in reply to your similar post in the thread about Mr. Bhatti's disappearance, but I thought I'd post here as well. I certainly share your concerns about families who abuse and/or take advantage of their au pairs, and agree with you that proper screening of both au pairs AND host families is vitally important. However, I don't see the relevance of the fact that the families in your development (who you've seen taking advantage of their APs) are "foreigners." Are you implying that only "foreign" families take advantage of their APs? Because that is certainly not the case. Sadly, I have heard about many instances of "born-and-bred-American" families taking advantage of their APs. Or are you suggesting that Mr. Bhatti's crimes are somehow related to the fact that he was born in Pakistan?
I think that your (very valid and important) point could be made just as effectively without making culturally insensitive generalizations.