To wonder what level of checks you'd expect for your exchange students being put up in other people's houses

[Excchangeissue]

We had fliers yesterday asking for people to house French exchange students, for cash, in our homes.

They were sent to everyone in our 3,000 plus house village.

All they need is a spare bed and a DBS check.

We live in a Midlands town with sod all going on so it's not exactly the place of people's dreams.

AIBU to think I wouldn't want my teenage child being sent to some random persons house where, at best, the parents have been DBS checked but who knows about any other occupants / visitors to the house.

Who knows what the incoming teen child is like ?

Undoubtedly newyear

Isn't it a shame that things got so complicated.

I used to have students. You're not allowed to have other adults in the house

TBH Ive sent mine on exchange trips, never once have I worried about 'what ifs'. They had some great adventures behind their teachers backs

Not wishing to be a drama llama but the person charged with raping and murdering a girl in Scotland this week is 16, i.e. not an adult.

I have friends who did it when they were young but I always thought the hosts were part of a 'club' e.g. rotary or whatever.

I was just really surprised that they are literally asking anyone who lives here.

When we did exchanges at school you just got paired up with an exchange partner and then we all went to stay with them and their families for two weeks. Nobody dbs checked them. They then came to stay with us. Nobody dbs checked us either.

You are absolutely right to be concerned about this, OP, and the short answer is that it ought not to be happening. Exchanges between school pupils of the same age is one thing, random hosting quite another.

When we’ve done both Dh and I had CRB check and they had a look round the room to check it was suitable. We had to sign a form to say we would have no other adult visitors whilst we had students staying. Not sure what other checks you’d want/ expect. This was with EF about 5 years ago. I know a lot of the smaller companies are a lot less strict about it.

My uncle did it last year (different exchange school) and they never even met anyone from the exchange company, just emailed to say the had a spare room and a couple of weeks later a couple of Spanish teenagers were left on their doorstep.

My thoughts exactly user

A genuine 'exchange' where your children go to their house and they come to you is quite different from this.

I know of children who went on a school trip to Spain and were hosted in the homes of couples whose own children had left home. They took in several lodgers at a time, including adults, some long and some short term. I was horrified. No way would I want my child doing that.

These days I would never do this you could be acoof anything and the burden off prof would be on you to prove your innocence tabs anything could be lost in translation especially and I would be even more against having a girl

I don't doubt it's incredibly sad it's come to this but I'm just gobsmacked that, in this day of political correctness, random people are sent leaflets asking if they want cash in return for hosting teenagers in their homes.

Until recently I hosted foreign students for many yearrs. My dc really enjoyed it. I had no checks but did need a gas certificate.

I was surprised no DBS or references were required.

My university had lots of international student who stay in local's homes. In term time they are all 17+ but in the holidays they have groups from schools so some can be quite young. The university visits everyone signing up to the program and requires police checks (we are't in the UK so they are called something different here) of all adults in the household but doesn't restrict or check visitors unless you (as hosts) say they stay overnight regularly (eg every week) in which case they will be considered part of the household. There is a manual that sets out things like expected behaviours, house rules etc, and the students all have mentors, either from their school (who will be with them all day during the program) or from the university (for the international students attending university courses) who they are encouraged to raise any issues with.

There are risks to the arrangement, but for language learning and a home environment it is the preferred option. My university took their responsibilities very seriously, but sadly things did occasionally go wrong and it was always a trade off. If you are too restrictive about accepting families then you can't accept students. If you accept unsuitable families then you get bad feedback (and this is the best case scenario) which may mean schools no longer place their students with you. I'm not surprised that there are dodgy operators, but my understanding is that it is a very competitive industry.

Oh and all sorts of recruiting methods were used to get new host families, posters and leaflets, stalls in the local mall, pieces in the local media, refer a friend with a financial incentive etc. The ideal is to attract lots of families as it's easier to weed out the unsuitable ones. However we were based in a small town so chances were fairly high that there was a personal connection to the university.

South coast towns are always full of European teenagers on language courses. They stay with a host family go to language courses, day trips etc in the day. Sounds similar - it’s been boosting the economy of run down seaside towns since at least the seventies. The families used to be just checked out by English employee but don’t know if they are drb checked now.

This was my job once upon a time.

As a 20 something postgrad who looked 19 at most I spent a couple of summers working in 'housing' for a university.

My official role was the to match exchange students with local families. Unofficially it was make sure that the room actually existed and to weed out anyone A Bit Creepy.

Conclusion - no fucking way I would ever send my daughters off on an exchange without extremely robust vetting procedures in place. I met more creepy/ skin crawly people over those summers than I have in over a decade of being a social worker.

Long time MNer here in disguise. I'm taking a homestay student later this year; it's big business in Australia. I take students from a local secondary school (International Programs in almost all). I and my adult child had to provide Working With Children certificates, as would any adult staying on a regular basis.

Even before being interviewed, I had to give info about how close to the school I lived, bus/train routes, etc.

The school's rep came round to check the house (and fire alarms) so they were given the full tour, that is, everywhere a student could possibly access. I was interviewed about food I would provide, particularly home cooking and packed lunches. This was because they'd had cases where the homestay was was fed on takeaways and not given lunch, i.e. not allowed to make up their own packed lunch for school. I later found out some hosts forbade the kitchen to the students.

While I'm a "from scratch" cook, I also batch cook for my own sanity and the demands of full-time work, something of a cultural hurdle for Chinese students who form the bulk of homestays. But it did make me think about my attitude towards the kitchen: must be left clean, no dirty dishes etc. after every meal. Oh, and no deciding to have a meal late at night - the smell of food cooking wakes me up.

As for publicising, I know they're always wanting more families, but it relies on people putting themselves forward, no flyers, though.

A bloody minefield.

I made that sound as if it was minefield for hosts, I meant for the homestay.

We took French students about 6 years ago, and didn’t have a dbs check.

Mostly it was quite fun, but once we were pressured into taking two at once, and they only communicated with one another, which was understandable, but boring.

I teach English in Europe and lots of my pupils go on language courses in England over the summer. Most of the time they have a positive experience, however sometimes their stories make my eyes pop out!

Now I know why. I don't think the host families get paid much, but still.

These courses don't come cheap yet parents are often willing to pay as having a good level of English is vital for many jobs and more and more HE courses are run pafly if not wholly in English.

Someone somewhere is raking it in.

I've family that put kids up for a summer language school scheme, no checks and little host guidance. The family involved were extremely welcoming and looked after the students well but others are purely in it for the cash. They are desperate for hosts so everyone seems to be accepted

The changes to Keeping Children Safe in Education that come into effect in September say that if you are organising a homestay here a DBS has to be done on any adult over 18 but can also.be done on 16 and 17 year olds too. If youre organising a homestay abroad you need to do as much as you can (or something equally vague) to ensure the children are safe.

Obviously a DBS is only as good as the moment its printed and also people aren't always caught so DBS being clean doesnt mean anything.

I've hosted exchange students and foreign pupils from boarding schools in the holidays.

We just needed Dbs checks and a gas safe certificate!

When we had 18+ students from big language schools we didn't even need the dbs.