Federica Foltmann snuck around her living room couch on a recent afternoon in her Castle Pines home.
Hiding around the corner was the 6-year-old girl she nannies.
When Foltmann caught up, the shy but curious girl buried her face into Foltmann's stomach and gave her a tight hug. Foltmann hugged her back, talking to her in Italian-accented English.
It's all in a day's work for the 20-year-old Brescia, Italy native, and all part of the experience in coming to the United States to work as an au pair.
Au pairs are a type of in-home childcare provider. The option is one some Denver metro families are choosing over more traditional methods like day cares, relying on relatives to babysit or nannies. Au pairs differ from nannies in that they are typically young adults who have come to the U.S. to care for children as part of a cultural exchange experience.
Numerous agencies place au pairs in the city and suburbs. The logistics of each program vary. In general, however, au pairs live with the family and work up to 45 hours a week. The host family provides food, a private bedroom and sometimes amenities like cars or cell phones.
Foltmann and her host family worked through the agency Cultural Care Au Pair, a nationwide au pair agency run by host parents and former au pairs.
Jennifer Morrow, the Cultural Care Au Pair representative for Castle Rock and Castle Pines, said au pair programs can be an educational and economical alternative.
Annual costs include registration, processing and program fees and a stipend paid directly to au pairs, totaling nearly $19,000.
Nick and Laurie Lazarou, another family using the Cultural Care Au Pair program,have employed au pairs for seven years. Both work demanding jobs and Nick travels often. Having a live-in au pair provides them with stable childcare, they said. It also makes time management easier.
"We didn't need to structure our ability to do things based on the availability of other people," Nick said.
The couple and their two children moved from Los Angeles to Castle Pines in the past year. Here, they don't have relatives to help out, which makes the au pair program all the more useful, they said.
When Morrow took over the region in May, five families were working with au pairs. Now, there are 12.
How the program works
Au pairs and families in Cultural Care Au Pair are matched through what resembles an online dating service. Once a family, which is personally interviewed by Morrow, is approved for the program, they can browse online profiles of au pairs. Likewise, families create a profile for au pairs to learn about them.
When families narrow down their candidate pool, they'll often Skype with au pairs and conduct interviews.
It's a two-way street, Morrow said. Both families and au pairs must pass background checks and meet program regulations. The mutual selection process aims to make for good matches and ensure au pairs and families will get along.
Her agency sources au pairs from approximately 25 different countries. They seek out the program for numerous reasons, Morrow said. Some au pairs are taking a gap year before pursuing higher education. Others hope to improve their English or simply want to travel. For families, Morrow said, it provides dependable childcare.
On both ends, she said there's opportunity to learn about other cultures and form lifelong friendships.
The programs are not without controversy. Cultural Care Au Pair families must pay their au pairs a stipend of $195.75 a week. Divide that by the 45 hours au pairs work, and you get a wage of $4.35 an hour.
Lawsuits sprung up in 2015 against several agencies in Colorado, including one involving an au pair in Highlands Ranch. The lawsuits alleged that au pair agencies violated Colorado's minimum wage law. The agencies said minimum wage wasn't required because room and board was provided by the families.
Morrow is well aware of that history. But, she said, she's never been aware of au pairs in her region being taken advantage of. In addition to the stipend, families are required to pay at least $500 toward educational classes, like community college courses, for their au pairs.
'The perfect family'
Foltmann was happy with her experience and has chosen to extend her one-year stay by another six months.
"I actually found the perfect family," she said.
Her main duties are getting both the children she watches up in the mornings. She makes breakfast, gets them dressed and takes them to school. She picks up the youngest at about noon and watches him the rest of the day. Normally, she said, parents pick up the oldest from school.
They all enjoy dinner together. Foltmann can use the car, has the basement to herself and can have friends over to stay the night. She's also vacationed with the family to places like Chicago, Hawaii and Florida.
And, she said, she's made a lifetime connection with her host family.
"When you are in the other part of the world and you know that here there is someone that you love and they love you --; that's amazing," she said.
from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/Childcare-alternatives,239410
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