Relocating to Paris with the family

[manyhappydays]

Hello,

We are a family with two children -6 and 3 years old- relocating to Paris at the end of August. I have read in other posts of the forum that a housekeeper/afterschool nanny is a popular option in terms of childcare in France. I wonder if there is anyone out there who could share their experiences and advise me in the best way to get this sort of staff i.e. agencies, online sites, etc. and the sort of money you are looking at.
Thank you very much!

Hi,
Having a domestic employee (i.e. a nanny or housekeeper-cum-babysitter) is feasible for many people in the French tax system because the government offers various subsidies to the cost of employment.
To go down this route, you'd therefore need to be tax-resident in France (or pay full whack, without subsidy).

If not, I think there are babysitting agencies you can use that do not involve you in an employment relationship with the babysitter. I would imagine this is a more expensive alternative.
I am not a great source of personal information because my two children (4 and 1) are respectively in French nursery school (ecole maternelle: optional, but free and automatic if you want it when child is 3)/childcare centre (centre de loisirs: highly subsidised) and creche (also subsidised but can be v. hard to get a place).
My one attempt at a nanny was a bit of a disaster and we had to "let her go" after a mere 6 months. There seems to be a shortage of professional-standard nannies and I personally would never try to find one again by myself - would go via an agency. Though I don't have any names to suggest, unfortunately.
There is a very helpful organisation that I belong to called "Message Paris". You pay to join and, once a member, you have access to all sorts of things (including invaluable discussion forums where you could get detailed information from other members on this kind of thing). I highly recommend joining up right now, before you arrive.
Good luck!

Thank you for this. Loads of very useful information.

:)

Hi

I second joining Message, a great resource for all your questions regarding life in Paris. www.messageparis.org/. That's where I have found nannies (nounou) through personal recommendations. For a nounou without papers I paid between 8-12 euros per hour for occassional care.

Also try www.bebe-nounou.com/ or the free expat paper FUSAC www.fusac.fr/ for agency and nanny listings. It is cheaper if you want to share your nounou doing a 'gardes partagee'.

I would recommend you try to sort something out as soon as possible. Paris is a like a ghost town in August as the locals disappear for the month on holiday and most people will have already made their arrangements for the new school year.

I loved Paris - have a great time living there. Sadly we've since moved on.