
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 19, 1994                   TAG: 9410190069
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

AU PAIRS FACE TIGHTER REGULATION AFTER VA. BOY'S DEATH

Abuses by au pairs and their host families and the August death of a Virginia infant who was violently shaken have prompted Congress to consider drastic reforms in the foreign exchange program.

Congress is giving the U.S. Information Agency power to bar au pairs from being left alone to tend to children younger than 2 and require that young European live-in baby sitters take more classes.

A Loudoun County grand jury will decide in December whether Anna-Corina Peeze, 19, will face trial for involuntary manslaughter in the death of 8-week-old Brenton Devonshire. Peeze was an au pair in the home of Stephen and Sharon Devonshire in Ashburn when the infant was injured.

``It will be a more scrutinized, more regulated program,'' said Joseph Duffey, director of the U.S. Information Agency, which oversees the program. ``It will go beyond the other foreign exchange programs, because it's not just an exchange program.''

Tens of thousands of au pairs have entered the country since 1986 through arrangements made by the government agency and eight au pair agencies. Many are assigned to two-career families, where they may spend up to 45 hours a week caring for children.

Prosecutors say Peeze shook Brenton Devonshire because she could not quiet his crying. The baby died four days later of what a doctor called ``classic shaken-baby syndrome.''

by CNB