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Families > Looking
for Child Care > Types
of Care
- 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.
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