Child Care Resource & Referral

 In-Home Care

In-home care is care that is provided in your home by a caregiver whom you hire -- usually a nanny or au pair, or in some cases a "mother's helper." In-home care is not for everyone. It is usually expensive, hard to find, and does not provide an emergency back-up situation. Caregivers may or may not have training in child development. In addition, you may not feel comfortable becoming an employer, providing supervision, and being responsible for taxes associated with the employment of a caregiver.

While in-home care does offer a great deal of flexibility, one drawback is that your child may miss out on peer interaction. You can address this problem by setting up play dates and playgroups for your child.

Finding the right in-home caregiver takes time and patience. You need to evaluate the caregiver's qualifications, check references, and meet with a candidate several times. Most of all, you need to feel comfortable with the person and trust that he or she is committed to providing the best care for your child. It is important to remember that in-home caregivers are not licensed by the state. You may want to consult with agencies that place in-home caregivers to help you with the search process. Once you've chosen your in-home caregiver, it's a good idea to draw up a contract that outlines the legal responsibilities of your child care arrangement.

Additional considerations with in-home care:

• Live-in caregivers require room and board to be provided by the host family.
• You and your caregiver may have different expectations regarding care responsibilities -- make your expectations clear up front.
• The length of the relationship with in-home caregivers is variable.

Au Pairs

An au pair lives with a family for one year, providing limited child care and sometimes light household help in exchange for room and board, a stipend, and the opportunity to experience life in another community or country. It is a specialized arrangement that requires you to consider not merely your child care needs, but your entire family’s living arrangements. With foreign au pairs, there are strict regulations about how much time they can spend on child care, and other requirements for families, such as the payment of one college course per year. Agencies that make placements of au pairs do provide some training, but it is important to note that many au pairs have little child development training.