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Home » Au Pair ABC » Safety

Safety

We are not a classic agency so we do not check any au pairs or families. This will help you save a lot of money. But of course we monitor whether our users behave according the rules on our database. And of course you can do something yourself to get an impression of the au pair or the host family. 

If you receive applications from au pairs or host families by email, please always check first whether the profile of the respective applicant can be found at Aupair World. For this purpose please write the name of the person into the "Search Aupair World" field at the left hand side at the top of our first page and click on "Go".
For your own safety you should only reply to applications if you can find the profile of the applicant at Aupair World. Because otherwise you cannot know who has sent you the application. If you receive an application from someone who cannot be found on Aupair World's pages, please forward the application to support@aupair-world.net so that we can check the matter. Thus you help us a lot to keep Aupair World "clean".
If you have already been in contact with an applicant by standard message, email or telephone and if you have come to an agreement, it may well be that this au pair or this host family has already deactivated his/her profile to receive no further applications. In this case the profile cannot be found at Aupair World any longer. That is how it is supposed to work and should not unsettle you.

Please be careful if you receive applications by candidates who seem in any way implausible to you (e.g. if a particularly high amount of pocket money is offered by the host family; if an au pair allegedly has completed several apprenticeships and has numerous qualifications in the field of child care ["over-qualification"]).

Please also read our article about au pairs from Morocco.

It is important to check things beforehand. It is always advisable to have a few phone conversations and see how you feel with the person on the other side of the line.

For you as an au pair

You can do a lot in advance for your own safety. Investigate for as far as possible what the expectations of the host family are concerning you as their au pair. Tell them frankly which are your wishes and consider what is improtant for you. Take all these things down in a written agreement between you and the host family. If you phone the family you will also get an impression of them. Send a letter to the home address to find out whether the address is correct.

Talk to an experienced person whom you trust. We deliberately don't mention your parents,  young people don't normally want suggestions of their parents. When you leave arrange with this person that you will have contact with them on a certain point in time, either for them to call you or you to call them.

If there are occurrences within the family which do not seem normal to you at all, talk to the person you trust. You needn't endure everything. If the family does not abide by agreements, leave the family. In this case do also talk it over with your confidant and discuss what you can do.

Please also note: The family takes a risk, too. They don't know either who they will take into their home.

What you should also take into consideration:

You should only go to a country if you have at least basic knowledge of the language. Make sure that you can cope with situations in every day life by yourself:

• if the child gets hurt, you should be able to call a doctor and the parents
• you should be able to ask for the way
• you should be able to go shopping alone

If you are interested in a country of which you do not yet speak the language, you should attend one or two language courses before you go there. You can attend such kind of courses at

• colleges of further education
• language schools
• universities
• evening schools

For you as a host family

We think that most people are mature and experienced enough to estimate if a person is "safe". If you are not sure about an au pair, you should ask him/her for references.

If you have an au pair living with you and you have checked his/her references, there will always be a residual risk, even if you go through an agency which "checks" the au pairs.

We recommend to call the au pair and to communicate with him/her by email more than once. This gives you an impression of the au pair's language skills and you will recognize whether you like him/her or not. Just trust your feelings. If you don't have a good impression or do not feel comfortable with him or her, you should not invite the au pair. You could also talk to her parents to get to know more about her family.

If the au pair comes from a neighbouring country - and he/she does not live too far away - you can arrange a meeting before the au pair comes to your family. You can visit him/her in his/her home country or you can invite him/her to be a guest in your house. One week should be sufficient to get to know each other. However, this period should not be considered as a probation.

Please inform the au pair about his/her future tasks before the au pair starts his/her au pair job to prevent that the person gets a wrong idea about the job in your family. It might be very helpful to draw up a detailed schedule. It should contain working hours, tasks and spare time. You should also enter evenings into this schedule if you have fixed appointments and when you need the au pair to baby sit.

The first weeks you should familiarize the au pair with your household so she or he gets an impression on how things are structured in your family. If her language skills are not good enough to understand your explainations, you can write them down in simple words, draw a sketch or take e.g. the vacuum cleaner and show how to operate it. Particularly with electrical equipment there can be some big operating differences from country to country.

During the first weeks it may be better not to leave the au pair alone with your children. You should observe how the au pair and your children interact. If you feel comfortable with the situation, you can leave the house for short periods and then you can extend the periods of absence.

Leave a telephone number for the au pair where you can be reached. Keep this telephone number and emergency number near to the telephone and make sure to show them to the au pair. Many au pairs are timid of having a telephone conversation in a foreign language. You can train them on telephone conversations. Just call the au pair sometimes when you are away to ask her if everything is all right. However, the au pair should not feel checked by your calls or get the impression that you think that she cannot manage it alone. During the first time, you should not be sparing of praise, but you should also say openly what you like to have improved.

If  you think that the au pair is not suitable or that problems will occur, and decide together not to stay with each other, you should help the au pair to find a new host family.

In case of serious problems, always seek help by contacting the law.

 Auf Deutsch: Sicherheit
 In English: Safety
 En Français: Sécurité
 In Italiano: Sicurezza
 In het Nederlands: Veiligheid

Questions? Send an email to: support@aupair-world.net or call Aupair World at +49 5603 917 817