Seeking advice from mums in the Netherlands

[expatkat]

Do any mumsnetters in Holland know of any nanny/au pair agencies there? Or any good venues to place an advert for childcare: newspapers, etc? I'm seeking a Dutch-speaking nanny or au pair to accompany me, ds and dd to the States for a year, with quite a bit of travel between Europe and the U.S.

(I've already done a google search, by the way, but with very limited success.)

I live in London, and have tried U.K. agencies. But it seems Dutch nannies tend not to be too eager to work in the U.K. and therefore don't sign up at those agencies.

Taking this a step further: Do any of you know of someone who could be interested in such a job?

I'd be grateful for any leads at all.

Oxocube? Anyone? Help!

I'll e-mail a friend of mine who lives there expatkat.May take her a day or two to reply though.Are you in a major rush?

No rush at all. Thanks GRMUM--that's really generous. I hope it's not too much trouble.

I am being really osey here expatkat ... If you live in London, not Holland, and are going to the States for a year, why do you want to find a Dutch speaking nanny? Are you Dutch? Like I say, just being incredibly nosey!
I have just had a couple of Dutch friends stay with me for a few days ... they are travelling around NZ at the mo ... they will come back at the end of this month ... Shall I ask them? Or is that going to be too late? In fact ... one of them might be interested in doing it ... mmmmm .... it's a thought .... they are both fab, late 20s... friends of the family so I could vouch for them .... great with kids ... excellent English and one of them is a teacher ... what do you think?

Hi, Ghosty. Good questions. . .DH is Dutch. He's desperate for the kids to learn Dutch, but won't be coming with us next yr when I'm in the U.S., so we thought a Dutch-speaking au pair would keep them up to speed with the language, though nothing will compensate for the absence of their father

Sure, ask your friends if they might be interested. If so, get my e-mail address from Tech. Thanks!

I'll also mention it to my dutch neighbours if you want. the mum comes from a family of 8, & they go back every few weeks, so they're bound to have millions of connections

Hi expatkat ... When I next see them I will talk to them about it ... might not hear from them for a few weeks though .. is that ok?
I totally understand about the dutch speaking nanny to keep up 'het nederlands' ... very important ...
I will ask tech to forward my e-mail to you ... tot ziens!

Hi expatkat my friend has promised to get back to me but it will be beginning of May as she is not going to be in Holland over the next few weeks due to visiting relatives in UK.Will post when I have some info.

Sorry Expatkat, I've just read this! My immediate thoughts are advertising in the local press (I could get you some info on local publications if you are interested) or looking at www.expatica.nl where although it is basically an expat site, you may have some luck posting a message on the 'discussions forum'. There are usually lots of girls looking for nanny/au pair work but not sure of their nationalities. Will chat to DH as he is usually more inspired than me and will post later this evening!

Try the Dutch universities careers services - they will probably have language students (who speak English and Dutch) and want to spend their year out of university travelling and earning a bit of money.

They are very unlikely to charge you anything, though of course you would have to do your own interviewing.

I did a yahoo search, Expatkat, and found a site, www.aupair.pagina.nl which lists loads of different recruitment agencies in Netherlands. Most sites are in Dutch but I guess this will not be a problem with a Dutch DH !! I am surprised that the London agencies say that Dutch girls don't want to go to London as most of those I have spoken to think London is really cool and would love to spend some time there.

Thanks so much everyone.

The reason I've been late in acknowledging is that I've been in Holland for 4 days for a little holiday with kids and dh. I used the opportunity to interview an au pair. That was all I could find: just one au pair who has any interest in going to the US for a year! The agency I used seemed v. professional and eager to please, so I can't imagine I picked a useless agency. They explained that, due to the war and other factors, interest in traveling to the US is low among Dutch au pairs and nannies. They also said they have a hard time finding nannies to go to the U.K. (Which confirms what I'd heard.)

Dh reckons that part of this can be blamed on the Dutch tendancy to rely more on daycare than on nannies. He says that becoming a nanny is not much of a career path there. (Don't know if you all agree??)

I had some misgivings about the au pair I interviewed, so would like to look into other options. Oxocube, if I need info on local publications I'll get back to you. I'll try your other suggestions first. Thanks, sed, for your suggestions too.

Hi, I've only just seen this. Expatkat, have you also thought of Flemish-speaking Belgians? Flemish is just a different dialect of Dutch. I guess the two are about as close to each other as US and UK English, or London/Scottish versions of the language, too.