Need advice on au pair agencies and au pairs

[sarahmuk]

My au pair has just informed me that she has to return to Spain at the end of May for exams, bearing in mind when i hired her through an agency I stressed that I needed an aupair who could stay till the end of July. This is my second au apir since Sept last year. The first girl was a nightmare and the agency offered me a free replacment. I find that when they arrive there great for the first few weeks and than the lazyness kicks in. I and my partner work fulltime in London and our 3 boys are in school full time. We are fair and pay a good wage for doing a school run and afterschool care, and hardly any babysiting as i'm too nackered to do anything by the time i get home. We also pay fo english classes plus the au pair is free while the boys are in school. I'm so confused as to what is the best solution as I have no famly here, a stressfull coprorate job, a current au pair who has managed to increase our shopping bill to £300pw (yes she eats alot)she has become lazy to the point I cleaned the boys rooms and changed their bedlinen today when I should have been working from home and she put on her makeup, she tried to hid the childrens clothes which needed ironing under our clothing for my cleaner and Ironing lady to do, any advice on a good agency who can supply girls who will comittee to at leat 9/12 months I would appricate any feedack and advice. I have registered on Au pair world but not sure how good this sit is.

We got our current au pair (Turkish) from Millenium au pairs, she's been her for nearly 18 months and has been great.

Au pair world does have some brilliant people who really do want to work with children. The difficulty occurs because the majority of au pairs are under 25, and many of them are on a gap year or have schooling commitments to go back to. I took a gap year and was an au pair, but I made it clear to the family that I did have to travel back to the UK for interviews at universities. Au pairs could probably commit to a year, maybe a year and a half.. because au pairing is not a career, and many of the girls/boys who chose it, do so as a means to travel and meet people and earn a bit of money whilst 'having fun'. Your best bet, in my opinion, would be to use Au Pair world to find a girl or boy who has been an au pair before, or who wants a career with children. This way, you know they are dedicated to the job, and are unlikely to leave unless they are happy. A good Au Pair should tell you about previous commitments where they need to go back home, but this isn't to say they will.

It just proves that paying an agency to find you an Au Pair isn't always the best option, as you said..you had a bad one before the second one anyway!

If you are stuck after may, how about advertising on gumtree for a teacher or a teaching assistant to have your boys in the holidays. They may well be greatful of some extra money in their pocket during the summer!

Good Luck in finding someone who will stay with you for a long time!

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