Important requirements to remember
Guidelines that relate most to your experience as a host family mandate that you agree to:
- Provide your au pair with a private bedroom, meals and a minimum weekly stipend of $195.75 (calculated based on federal minimum wage; subject to change)*
- Limit your au pair’s working hours to 45 hours per week (no more than 10 hours in one day)
- Limit your au pair’s household responsibilities to those related to care of the children (including meal preparation, laundry and room clean-up)
- Grant your au pair 1.5 days off per week, at least 1 full weekend off each month and 2 weeks of paid vacation
- Arrange for a parent or responsible adult to remain at home with your au pair for the first three days after arrival
- Ensure that another adult is home with your au pair at all times if you have an infant under the age of 3 months
- Contribute up to $500 toward the cost of your au pair’s completion of their educational requirement
- Facilitate transportation for your au pair to attend classes and any scheduled meetings with your local representative
The government regulations Cultural Care Au Pair agrees to follow include:
- Provide au pairs with a minimum of eight hours of training in child development and child safety (at least four of which deal with infant safety)
- Provide au pairs with a minimum of 24 hours of child development instruction before being placed in your home (at least four of which must relate to children under two years of age)
- Ensure that each host family be assigned to a local representative who lives within a one-hour drive
- Require local representatives to conduct an orientation with each host family and au pair within 14 days of an au pair’s arrival
- Require local representatives to maintain monthly personal contact with host families and their au pairs
Read the U.S. Department of State guidelines in full.
*Host families and au pairs are free to discuss and agree to compensation higher than the required weekly stipend minimum of $195.75; however, this cannot be in exchange for the au pair exceeding the regulatory limits on working hours (10 hours per day; 45 hours per week) or performing duties beyond childcare-related tasks.