Help for Families

Dear Family - PLEASE READ OUR FAMILY SAFETY PAGES: Here and here. PLEASE NOTE: An au pair / nanny who says she has any connection with Cameroon is always a scammer and we keep deleting this criminal gang. We work very hard to make this the safest nanny and au pair website on the Internet for you. Remember, NEVER send money to au pairs or nannies for ANY reason. If they are still looking for a position, and their profile has been deleted, it is because we deleted them and they are scammers (criminals). Please do not reply to their emails and they will soon forget about you. Thank you!

Simple answer: NO. We know there will always be exceptions, but au pairs who ask for money are sometimes scammers. Please tell us if an au pair asks you to send money.

We know that our members' email addresses are genuine (real) because they have to authorise and start their membership by clicking on a registration email we send to them automatically. (Just like you did.) Sadly, from time to time people do not check their email, or their email boxes are full. This happens to au pairs AND families. We have NO other contact details for au pairs. Our advice is to wait a few days and then try to email them again.

This is an automated site and we do not have any information about au pairs, apart from what you see on their profiles.

We work very hard to keep this site 'cleaner' than every other au pair website in the world. If you think an au pair or nanny might not be genuine or might be a scam, please tell us immediately. Please write to us. Tell us your membership number, the membership number of the nanny or au pair (in the top left box on each profile), and the reasons for your concern, and we will try to investigate for you.

Click "add to favourites" on the au pair or nanny’s profile. This will send them an automatic email from this website, telling them you are interested. You must then wait for them to contact you using the same method. Or you can become a Premium Member which allows you to see the email details of each au pair or nanny, and email them yourself.

You can use this site for free to search for au pairs and nannies. Only when you have found suitable candidates and you want to email them directly do we ask you to pay the small membership fee. This allows you to see the email address of every au pair and nanny on the site. This small membership fee helps to pay for our very large monthly internet advertising, which brings you the best choice of thousands of au pairs and nannies worldwide. There are no "finders" or "placement" fees or any other charges. Once you have found your perfect au pair or nanny on our site we leave the rest to you. Please note however that in some countries, once you have found an au pair or nanny who is suitable, you then need to pass their details to an officially recognised agency for all the formalities to be completed.

Yes, if you wish. Please email us for details.

We are an international site and use US dollars as it is an international currency. Your credit card company will calculate the exchange rate for you.

To start your profile and log in to New Au Pair you must register and receive an email. There is a link on the email that you must click to start your membership of the site. If you do not check your email and start your membership you will not be able to log in and use the site.

We get many emails saying "I have not received an email to log in". Emails are ALWAYS sent automatically when you register. If you think you have not received an email, there are reasons for this.

First, check your "spam" folder, as some email providers wrongly consider our emails to be spam. Next, is your email account full? This is very common. If so, please correct this. You will then have to register again. Thirdly, are you sure you typed your email address correctly when you registered? Fourthly, if you use a spam-guarding email provider such as earthlink, our email will not get through unless you first allow emails from newaupair.com. We are very sorry but with 30,000 members we cannot manually click on emails from your email provider asking for our emails to be allowed. If you received an email from us but cannot see a link to click on, there is a line in that email which asks you to copy and paste the address into your browser. Finally, if you received an email from us, but the message is cut short and you cannot see a link or an address to copy and paste, this is because your email provider has done this. Please contact us if this is the case.

To remove your profile, login and go to your family membership page. You can stop or delete your profile there.

Au pairs can stay with a family anything from one month to several yearsbut this depends on the immigration rules of each country. Au pairs will often consider a shorter assignment than they want because they can then find another family to take them after this. This depends on the country and where the au pair comes from.

Our suggestion is to add as many photos as you can and write a lot about yourself – your profile is all the au pair can see about you so make the most of it! Look at our "improve your family profile" page for more ideas.

No we are not an agency. Newaupair.com provides information that families and au pairs put into their profiles. The information is not checked. If you want to use an agency you can – just provide them with all of the au pair’s details and the agency will carry out all the checks for you.

See our How to use this site guide.

An au pair is a girl or boy, usually aged 17-30, who helps a host family with childcare and sometimes housework, while living as a guest in their home.

While living with a family an au pair participates in childcare and also other related activities, from light housework to babysitting, or even helping older children develop particular skills (such as learning a new language or sport).

Being an au pair for a family, and a guest in their home, the au pair tends to participate in many of the family activities and is treated as part of the family. So participating in an au pair programme can be a very exciting and interesting experience for the au pair and the family.

For details on the average au pair salary in different countries see our Salary Guide.

For details on visas and information on applying for visas in different countries see our Visa Guide. For a breakdown of what countries your au pair can come from, see Which Nationality.

Families are required to pay the au pair’s living expenses while she is with the family. The family must give their au pair a private bedroom and meals. If the au pair is required to drive the children to places then the family should pay for the gas and car maintenance. However, if the family allows the au pair to use the car for personal trips, the au pair should pay for her own gas.

In some countries the government has also made a list of various commitments a host family has to an au pair. For example, in some countries families must pay for an au pair’s health and travel insurance while in others the family is required to also contribute to the au pair’s language school costs. For details on the family’s obligations in some countries see Country Information.

Other personal expenses such as special dietary requirements and phone calls to her home country should be taken care of by the au pair.

It is up to you unless you live in certain countries where contracts and their content are regulated. See Country Information for more information.

If you would feel more comfortable you could decide to contract directly with an au pair. Many families prefer this approach as it offers a sense of security. We suggest that if you decide to do this you put as much as possible in writing to avoid any confusion. For example, your contract should include the number of hours agreed, a list of duties and a notice period.

Some families feel that a list of duties is sufficient. Some au pairs may feel more comfortable with this as they may find a contract off putting. Consider this when making your decision but remember, do what feels right and will make a better relationship with your au pair.

Every family has a different set of duties they want their au pair to do. While some families only hire an au pair to take care of their children, others ask their au pairs to also do light housework or take care of pets. To avoid confusion between you and your au pair it is useful to explain what the duties will be. Agreeing on the au pair’s duties before she starts will avoid confusion or unhappiness later.