Help & Support

Support for Families

Alpha Christian Au pairs is an online Au pair matching service that provides an effective, easy and efficient web-based solution for finding and matching host families and Au pairs.

Our service aims to assist host families and Au pairs to select the most appropriate candidates quickly, and arrive at a secure agreement smoothly thanks to our unique Pledging System.

Important Information:

Once you have contacted, and made an agreement with, an Au pair and both parties have agreed on the terms of the contract, send the Au pair a pledge invitation.

A pledge is a way of asking the Au pair to honour their commitment to you. This helps to prevent the Au pair from accepting another offer without you knowing.

Either party can pull out of this pledge at any time. When a pledge is deactivated, our system will send an email to the Au pair informing them that you have cancelled your pledge.

Please note our Pledging System is not a binding contract. It is our way of providing you with a better service.

How to identify your ideal Au pair

Be as broad as possible covering key areas such as your family ethos and principle and duties. Complete your profile and upload your picture. You can change this at any time. The points below are meant as guidance to help you build a great profile:

1. About your family

• Include a brief description of your family (e.g. we are a couple looking for Au pair to assist us in caring for our two young children ages 4 & 6. Our kids attend full time school while my husband and me both work full time. I work as an accountant and my husband is a business consultant).
• Upload a clear picture of your family when you register. It is advantageous to upload your picture early on as some Au pairs pay more attention to profiles with images attached to them.

2. About your home

• Provide information about your home (e.g. we live in a four bedroom house with a garden with very good transport links to Central London in the UK).
• Provide information about the accommodation. Do you provide the Au pair a private room? This is a requirement for most countries. Do you provide the Au pair her/his own bathroom?
• Provide information about the local area. Most Au pairs would want to go to a language school. Is there a language school that they can easily access?

3. About Your ideal Au pair

• Explain to the prospective Au pairs why you want to host an Au pair and what you would expect from an Au pair.
• Explain what a day is like in your home (e.g. drop children at school at 8.30am, return home and do light housework, pick up children at 3.30pm, provide light meals for the children and interact with them. At 5.30pm prepare supper for the children).
• If you require any housework, state what it would be and the work hours of the Au pair. Au pairs would want to know if they have enough free time to explore your country and culture outside of your home as well. Answer these questions to introduce your family to the Au pairs.

Suggested Questions to ask Au Pair Candidates:

As a guide you may find the following list helpful, but naturally, as the list is long, you need only select those questions that are relevant to your family:

• Have you ever lived away from your family/home country before?
• How do you feel about leaving your family for months?
• How does your family feel about you coming to the UK?
• Do you have any friends who have ever been an Au pair?
• Do you know anyone in England?
• Can you adjust to living with a foreign family and being a part of it?
• Do you like pets?
• Are you willing to take our dog out for a walk / feed our dog?
• Do you have any dietary restrictions? Are you a vegetarian?
• Are you willing to cook meat for the children?
• Are you able to cook simple meals for the children?
• Do you smoke? Discuss your family restrictions on this point.
• What experience do you have with children?
• Have you ever bathed or put children to bed?
• What are the ages of the children you have cared for in the past?
• How would you discipline a child?
• How were you disciplined as a child?
• Do you help with the housework in your own home?
• Whilst we will welcome you as a friend to our family, do you understand that your duties will include helping with the housework and keeping our home clean and tidy?
• Are you a tidy person?
• Will you be happy to accept our household rules?
• Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend and how do they feel about your proposed stay in the UK?
• What are your hobbies?
• Are you sporty? Do you enjoy swimming/football/tennis etc.
• Are you artistic? Do you enjoy painting/music?
• Are you planning to go to a language school?
• Discuss holiday requirements and possible schedules
• Are you willing to join in on our family outings or holidays?
• Are you flexible? If we sometimes return home late from work, will this be a problem?
• Do you have any first-aid training?
• Are you in good health?
• Do you have any allergies?
• Are there any health related issues you should mention?
• Can you help the children with their homework?
• Will you read stories to the children and play with them?
• How many children do you feel confident taking care of?
• If our children have friends over to play, are you able to supervise them?
• How do you think this experience will change you as a person?
• What are your future plans?