Can you suggest a good au pair agency?

[andagain]

I am sorry I know there have been many posts on this before but if you have personal experience of a good au pair agency could you please let me know?

We have just been told by our would be au pair who was due to start on 30th January that she is not coming. This is a total nightmare as you can imagine as we spent months looking for the right person, she came over for a weekend and we all got on, emailed a lot since and now this out of the blue (even though I did wonder a couple of weeks ago when she went quiet for a while and then a new boyfriend was mentioned).

As my children are all now in the 30's age....I can only say..
When they were younger..like many new day mums...(30 years ago..not so many mums had to have? full time jobs)
But like many mums - both now and then.... It drove me crazy forever being let down...or having my personal life invaded...ie; going into my bedroom, or reading my personal stuff and such likes....
I seemed to pay agents to find good nannies or cleaners... or whatever needed...gardeners too..
I was a single parent...Dad having passed from our life..I was young...early 20's and 3 boys under 4 years at the start of this madness.
Anyway..to cut a very lllloooooonnnnggggggggg story short.
I was told about the Spanish nuns...that are based in the city of London..close to me...but the girls travel all over..
Well the nuns help Spanish girls...to get live-in jobs as helpers...
To be honest..I did end up with a couple of girls, that I needed to look after..as if they were my children..lovely girls but really not ready for travel and def not for looking after my kids lol
Well The first girl that came to live with us was called Amelia Risco..
She was fantastic...such a nice girl and I and my sons still talk about her to this day...In fact one of my sons called his daughter Millie...as that is what they always called Amelia..So proof of how big an impact she had on all of us.
At that stage the boys were out of nursery and had started school..so age 5/6/7 years..and believe me..a handful...
So to keep this short..Try to contact the Spanish nuns in the city..ask if they still help girls to get a place as an Au-pair.
I found them in the phone book...no computers of such them days..so try there
They never charged..I did make a donation..Amelia stayed for her full 1 year of being in England. She returned some 3 years later to work for another in the uk....But! came to visit us often..I am really sad to say that we lost contact over the years...Amelia would be around...48 years old now...So please if anyone knows a Spanish lady called Amelia Risco..that was an Au-pair to 3 handfuls of little boys..tell her to contact us....We still miss her and the boys, now men want to say sorry for all of the naughty things they got up too...
I am confident that there are more like her..so give them a try..maybe??

I'm also on the hunt for an au pair but don't know where to start! I will also try the nuns. Such a lovely story ! Ihope you get to see her again!

Have had excellent experiences with Pebbles agency who recruit French au pairs. They seem to work quite hard to match the au pair's personality and skills as closely as possible to the family and children.

Thank you very much.

Hi there I can recommend elephantrecruitment.com - they have local agents who meet the family and match them with spanish au pairs.

Hello,

I have an au-pair who I found through aupair-world.net and after quite a few interviews through Skype, we chose a Spanish au-pair who's now been with us for 4 months. I couldn't be happier. She's so wonderful with the kids, she's very proactive, she's constantly smiling, and helping out at all times. There were many others that were very nice too and it was very difficult for us to chose from. You just need to be very careful and take your time screening them and talking to them, video calling is ideal, Skype is good and most of them use it.

Priscila

I realise everyone's experience can be different, but I just wanted to point out that we didn't have a good experience with Au Pairs by Pebbles (recommended above). Watch out for their contracts! We were sadly the victims of a very swiftly departing homesick au pair. While some au pair agencies will refund you part of the fee if the au pair leaves very shortly after they arrive Pebbles didn't offer that option and said they only offered a 'free replacement'. I would think about this if you chose an au pair agency as their terms do vary and you won't necessarily get offered a 'free replacement' you are happy with or even one who meets your basic criteria! In contrast I rate Au Pair World highly. We much preferred the matches we got with Au Pair World to the 'free replacements' the agency offered in our case. Just like PPP30 we had some lovely people to chose from who ticked all the right boxes! Good luck whatever you decide to do!

Similarly horrific experience of Hampstead Au Pair Agency. Just a husband and wife team. She finds girls (via FB) he pushes them on to the families by fabricating their references and exaggerating their experience and suitability. When it's a disaster, he points out that Hampstead Au Pair Agency's policy is not to give refunds under any circumstances. Thoroughly nasty man when it all goes wrong and as the Mumsnet posts attest, it has gone wrong for so many.

I've said it before but please don't use an au pair agency..it's too personal. You are going to have someone living in your house for 6 months/year and they need to be the right person. Agencies don't have enough candidates on their books to get a good match,

Use au pair world, it will take more time, but you'll get a better match and both be happier.

Hi

I know Amelia Risco!