Cassandra and Clarke Robinson

National statistics say that close to 1 in 4 people are violently attacked in the United States. On January 31st, over 30 Cultural Care Au Pairs teamed up with United Studios of Self Defense in Foster City to learn basics in self defense. These au pairs represented over 15 different countries and are currently caring for the children of host families from San Mateo County. The au pairs were taught by Chief Instructor, Regina Pinpin that safety and awareness is more than 75% of self defense. In the 2-hour workshop, the au pairs were taught and practiced a variety of solutions to escape an attack.

The training was a part of Cultural Care Au Pair’s commitment to on-going training with their Continuing Education Program (CEP). As a U.S, Department of State regulated program, Cultural Care au pair’s receive safety and childcare education throughout their year-long stay in the U.S. When the au pairs arrive in the U.S. they begin their training with a week of intensive courses at the Cultural Care Au Pair school in New York and quarterly, Local Childcare Coordinators provide complementary safety workshops.

Along with the great personal safety experience, the au pairs were provided with safety tips to teach the children they provide care for in our community.

Safety tips for children:

• I know my full name, address, including zip code, and phone number, including area code.
• I know how to use a pay phone
• If I get lost in a store, I will find someone who works in the store for help.
• If anyone bothers me while going to/from school, I get away from that person and tell a parent or teacher right away. A grown up should never ask a child fro help, they should ask another grown up.
• I never take shortcuts from school, I always follow the route that my parents know
• I never accept a ride from anyone, even someone I know – unless my parents have given me permission.
• If someone tries to take me somewhere, I get away quickly and yell – “This person is trying to take me away – or this is not my Mother/Father.”

At Cultural Care Au Pair and our parent company EF Education First, we believe in connecting people as citizens of the world, and breaking down barriers of language, culture and geography. Never is that mission more important than in a time of crisis. In order to reach out to the people of Haiti, EF Education First will match up to $100,000 of employee, student and customer donations made through the American Red Cross. We believe this is our responsibility as a company, as educators and as global citizens. We hope you will join us in our effort to aid the millions of Haitians who need our support. Together, we can make a difference.

If you would like to make a donation, please click or paste the following link in your browser:
http://american.redcross.org/efeducationfirst-emp

This past Fall, Cultural Care Au Pair launched another customer satisfaction survey to our host families…and the consensus is that they are overwhelmingly happy! To share few of the stats:

• 96% of host families are satisfied with the quality of childcare that their au pair provide
• 95% are satisfied with the support provided by their Local Childcare Coordinator
• 97% are pleased with the choice they made to use the services of Cultural Care Au Pair
• 96% would recommend the services of Cultural Care Au Pair to other families:

We’re thrilled with these results, which are certified by independent survey company Discovery Surveys, Inc. In fact, our participation rate (52% of active host families this time around) and the results themselves have improved each of the four times we have administered the surveys (spring and fall of 2008 and spring and fall of 2009). For more detailed results, go to our corporate website.

Thank you to our current host families for partcipating and for helping us to further improve our program!

Cultural Care Au Pair offers 3 Ways to Match
Cultural Care Au Pair host families now have the ability to review even more applications and au pair profiles with our new 3 Ways to Match, a program feature that let’s host families select the style of matching that best suits their needs. Host families can now search through multiple candidates on their own timeframe, set an appointment for a consultative matching session or work one-on-one with a placement manager who carefully selects possible matches. Best of all, our 3 Ways to Match allows you to enjoy the benefits of all three matching styles to help you find the right au pair for your family.

To get started
Whether you’re a new family to Cultural Care Au Pair or have already hosted an au pair, our 3 Ways to Match makes it easy for you to begin reviewing au pair candidates right away. Simply fill out your new or repeat application. Once it’s processed, you can log into your account and begin matching. Here’s how it works:

Personalized, exclusive matching
Enjoy the benefits of our trademark one-on-one matching. Your placement manager will select carefully screened applications for you to review based on your family’s unique needs. Each au pair is exclusively reserved for your family’s review, which means no two families are contacting the same reserved au pair candidate at the same time.

Consultative matching
Review our pool of au pair candidates in real time by setting up a consultative matching appointment by phone with your placement manager. This highly effective method allows you to carve out time with your placement manager to review available candidates who are not being reviewed by other families. At the end of the appointment, you have the opportunity to have up to three candidates maximum reserved for your family exclusively.

Search & Select
An enhancement to our current profile review system, this new feature offers families the ability to build a list of au pair profiles available for review. Families can narrow the search field and request, for example, a driver, a second year au pair or someone available now. If you find a candidate of interest to you, you may add the au pair to your list and notify your placement manager of your interest by clicking the Notify Placement Manager button. Your placement manager will review your suggested matches and place up to three of those matches into your host family account for further review of their full application.

Sample & Save - try our 3 “Ways to Match” risk free
Now for a limited time only, host families who apply to Cultural Care Au Pair will have the opportunity to try our 3 Ways to Match FREE. New families who submit an application from January 14th to January 19th, 2010 and take an au pair into their home by October 22, 2010 will have the $75 application fee waived, in addition to our $275 au pair selection fee waived. In addition, families applying will also receive a $500 discount off the program fee - a total savings of $850!

There’s never been a better time to begin your search for an au pair. For more information about our 3 Ways to Match or our limited-time-only $850 discount, contact me today at (650) 515-9713.

Our host families spoke, and we listened. The economy had an impact on everyone last year. Many families faced new financial challenges, but in the end, they still needed flexible, affordable childcare. As a result, Cultural Care Au Pair has created several new payment options that help lower the initial cost for welcoming an au pair into their home in the New Year. Along with this exciting new change, we are also keeping our prices the same for the second year in a row!

Now new families applying to Cultural Care Au Pair will have even more payment options available. Not only have we reduced our application fee, we have created several new payment plans for new and repeat families. As a result, they can continue to enjoy all the benefits they have enjoyed from Cultural Care Au Pair in the past - and even more!

Lower application fee, lowered payment plan options
How does it work? Now new families applying to the program will pay a $75 non-refundable application fee -a savings over our previous $350 application fee. Upon finding the right au pair, a $275 selection fee will be due so the au pair can finalize arrangements to come to the U.S. Offering this new payment structure not only helps secure the au pair for the family, it allows the visa process to begin moving forward.

In addition, families now have even more flexibility when it comes to making payments. On our regular payment plan, families now have the ability to pay the program fee 30 days prior to the au pair’s arrival, instead of upon selection of an au pair. This is great for families who select an au pair early, as it provides them with additional time to pay their program fee.

In addition, our Extended Payment Plan option now lowers the initial deposit to $2,395, plus a $200 payment plan enrollment fee. Families have the option of making a payment in three easy installments or they can log into their host family account at their convenience and pay weekly, bi-weekly or monthly - whatever works best for the family, as long as it’s within the Extended Payment Plan timeframe. Repeat and extension families enjoy all these flexible payment benefits as well, with the additional benefit of a waived application fee!

Along with keeping prices the same in 2010, and creating several new, lower payment plan options, we are also decreasing the cost for enrolling in our Extended Payment Plan, making it even easier to afford an au pair in the New Year.

For more information about how to utilize these new options, contact me, your local childcare coordinator, and I will be happy to provide you with additional details about Cultural Care Au Pair’s exciting new payment options for 2010!

In early December the Cultural Care Au Pairs in San Mateo, Foster City, and Belmont spent some time on the ice at Belmont Iceland. This was the first time ice skating for a few au pairs, like Angélica from Brazil and Idalidis from Panama. Others showed off their ice skating skills, Mely from Switzerland commented that “Back home my mom likes to go ice skating and we normally go skating every Sunday in the Winter.” With the San Francisco Bay Area’s mild winter weather, the chilly ice rink helped many au pairs feel like it was truly Winter.

Every year thousands of young people from all over the world embark on a special journey by becoming an au pair. Now it’s time to recognize the extraordinary and ordinary daily accomplishments that each au pair makes in his or her host family by nominating your au pair for the International Au Pair Association’s seventh annual Au Pair of the Year Award.

The International Au Pair Association established the Au Pair of the Year Award to recognize the many great young men and women participating in the au pair program worldwide. In addition, the award helps highlight public awareness of this valuable cultural exchange program.

For the last two years, au pairs with Cultural Care have been honored with the IAPA Au Pair of the Year Award. In 2009, the honor was awarded to Francisco Ricardo Silva de Araújo, of Brazil, an au pair to the Boyer family of Virginia. In 2008, Linda Falter, an au pair from Germany, received the award while she was an au pair for the Sato family of Hayward, California.

What makes your au pair outstanding?
Maybe it’s the day-to-day things he or she does, such as kicking around a soccer ball, helping the kids with homework or entertaining them while you cook dinner. Maybe it’s the way he or she has embraced your family, such as teaching your kids her language, baking treats from her home country or coming to watch your children in the winter program at school. Every thing your au pair does that helps your family or brings a rich cultural exchange into your family is worthy of recognition, and a great way of saying thank you to your au pair!

Host families who would like to nominate their au pair should submit an essay detailing what makes their au pair exceptional in the form provided. Nominations for the Au Pair of the Year Award must be received by Friday, January 15. Once you’ve submitted your nomination, don’t forget to share it with your au pair to show her or him how much you think of what she or he does for your family!

Simply nominating an au pair for the IAPA Au Pair of the Year Award is a wonderful honor that can show your au pair how much you value what she or he does for your family. This award allows so many in the au pair community to reflect on what an incredibly positive program this is and the many lives it touches and enriches along the way.

For more information about the Au Pair of the Year Award or nominating your au pair please click here.

Many host families celebrate Thanksgiving Day as a time of coming together with friends and family to celebrate and share a special meal together. The history behind this holiday is presented below (from Wikipedia). This is also a great time to reflect on what you are grateful for, and share it with your friends and family. Some people take time out to write cards and express their thanks to their loved ones. As an au pair, it would be very thoughtful, to take time this month to write a card to your host family thanking them for their hospitality this year.

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, presently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. It did not become a federal holiday until 1941. Thanksgiving was historically a religious observation to give thanks to God,^[1] and is still celebrated as such by many families, but it is now also considered a secular holiday as well.^[2][3]

Most Americans celebrate by gathering at home with family or friends for a holiday feast. Though the holiday’s origins can be traced to harvest festivals which have been celebrated in many cultures since ancient times, the American holiday is tied to the deliverance of the English settlers by Native Americans after the harsh winter at Plymouth, Massachusetts and that event has become the pre-eminent foundation story for English North America.

The First Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God and the Native Americans for helping the pilgrims survive the brutal winter. Although half of the pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower had already died, many more would have had it not been for the native Americans teaching the pilgrims to harvest foods. The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three whole days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians. The traditional Thanksgiving menu often features turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. Americans may eat these foods on modern day Thanksgiving, but the first feast did not consist of these items. On the first feast turkey was any type of fowl that the pilgrims hunted. Pumpkin pie wasn’t on the menu because there were no ovens for baking, but they did have boiled pumpkin. Cranberries weren’t introduced at this time. Due to the diminishing supply of flour there was no bread of any kind. The foods included in the first feast included duck, geese, venison, fish, lobster, clams, swan, berries, dried fruit, pumpkin, squash, and many more vegetables.

We have had 4 new au pair arrivals in Fall ‘09: Jean Sonqayi from South Africa, Roger Campos from Costa Rica, and Julia Taenzler & Natalia Swientek both from Germany.

September Arrivals:

Natalia Swientek is 21-years old from Duisburg, Germany with over 7000 hours of childcare experience, babysitting children from newborn to 7-years old. Natalia is trained in first aid & CPR and enjoys martial arts, swimming, and playing volleyball. After Natalia’s au pair year she is interested in studying graphic design. Natalia is living with a host family in San Mateo caring for 3 children.

Julia Taenzler is 21-years old from Kuchen, Germany with a variety of childcare experience as a tutor, cheerleading coach, camp counselor for children with special needs, and assisting in a Kindergarten classroom. Julia enjoys shopping, roller-blading, swimming, and skiing. After Julia’s au pair year she plans to study hotel management. Julia is living with a host family in San Mateo caring for 3 children.

October Arrivals:

Jean Sonqayi is 22-years old from Knysa, Western Cape, South Africa. Jean has worked with groups of children as a day care assistant, and would like to open her own child care center when she returns to South Africa. Jean is a Christian and enjoys playing net ball, hiking, and reading. Jean is living with a host family in Belmont, caring for 3-year old twins.

Roger Campos is 24-years old from Heredia, Costa Rica. Roger’s childcare experience consists of working as a camp counselor and babysitting children between the ages of 6-months to 4-years old. Roger is a university student, studying engineering and enjoys playing the drums, making sand castles, cooking, camping, running, and playing soccer. Roger is living with a family in Foster City caring for 3 children.