Au Pair Reference

[BarbLives]

Hi everyone, I'm hoping for some advice from seasoned au pair employers!
I have found an au pair, hopefully for September, and following threads I have read on mumsnet I have asked her for a reference from a previous family, photo ID and a police check. She seems keen, but I asked for all this two weeks ago and haven't seen anything yet!
We have communicated by email a few times since, sent photos and whatnot, but no documents have arrived.
I'm not sure what to do next. I really want to pin her down on a start date and get flights booked. Any advice?

what about requiring copy references and telephone numbers to follow them up not later than x date, failing which you will consider the offer closed? (and start looking again in the meantime perhaps - I've heard a few stories lately of people let down at the last minute by kids changing their minds about what they want to do)

How long would you give? I asked for everything 2 weeks ago, and she got back to me 10 days ago to say the family are on holiday at the moment. I'm not sure how long a police check would take either.
We could wait til October for someone but if I have to start recruiting again from scratch time is getting a bit short.

Where is she from? My German new starter probably took 3 weeks to get everything to me, the Italian police check took longer.

Just send an email asking for her to update you with where she's up to with all the documents you need.

Denmark. From my googling it looks like a police check is fairly easy to get but you never know.

I emailed this morning to ask how things were going and she's just got back to me with her ID and passport, so that seems positive that she hasn't changed her mind!

Argh this is still dragging on! No reference from babysitting family, though she assures me she is trying. She seems great in every other way and we have agreed when she'll come, I've said once I get a reference she can book flights.

Having babysitting/nursery experience with pre-school children was one of the things we required in our ad, so I'm worried she has 'embellished' her experience and is now hoping we will forget about the reference.