Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 16, 1995 TAG: 9501170088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LEESBURG LENGTH: Medium
``I don't think government rules are the answer at all,'' said Paul Meighan, whose Great Falls family has had seven foreign baby sitters arranged through federally sanctioned exchange programs.
Agencies that place nannies - or au pairs, as the young, mostly European women often are called - with American families also are crying foul. Too much government involvement will turn the one-year au pair stays into inflexible federal work programs, the agencies complain.
Au pair agencies have begun letter-writing campaigns against the new government rules, and at least one group offered to pay for telegrams from host families protesting the changes.
The changes, scheduled to take effect next month, limit the age and responsibilities of foreign baby sitters in apparent response to the death of Brenton Scott Devonshire.
The 8-week-old Loudoun County boy died in August. His Dutch nanny, Anna-Corina Peeze, is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the baby's death. Authorities say she shook him to quiet his crying, but Peeze has denied wrongdoing.
``That obviously drew public attention to the thing and kind of pushed everyone along,'' said Jim Morgan, spokesman for the United States Information Agency, the government overseer of the nanny programs. ``But the idea of formally regulating the program has been bubbling around this agency for a long time.''
The rules would replace voluntary guidelines that Morgan said some au pair agencies have ignored. They also would clearly establish the programs as educational exchanges, although au pairs could still perform 45 hours of child care each week.
The new rules would require stricter background checks for both families and au pairs, and more training for au pairs when they arrive.
Meighan thinks the au pair agencies already screen and train applicants well and cannot guarantee against problems.
``Whenever you bring someone into your home that is a stranger, tragedies can always happen,'' Meighan said. ``You have to get comfortable with one another, and the government cannot tell me whether or not I am comfortable.''
Under the new rules, au pairs could not care for children younger than 3 months old. And no au pair younger than 21 could care for children younger than 2.
Au pair agencies estimate about a third of their current au pairs would not meet the new age rules.
``This is totally arbitrary,'' said Bill Gertz, vice president and spokesman for Au Pair in America, the largest of the au pair agencies and the group sponsoring the telegrams. ``There is nothing that says a 19-year-old with great training is any less able to care for a young child than a 21-year-old.''
Another change would increase the pocket money host families provide au pairs from $100 to $155 weekly, too much for many middle-class families, Gertz and others said.
``We would lose host families in St. Louis and Cincinnati and wherever salaries are not as high as in Washington or New York,'' Gertz said. ``That could take the au pair program out of the price range for middle-class families.''
Families typically spend about $10,000 annually for an au pair, including fees to the agency, spending money, room and board and other costs, he said.
The new rules also will raise the fees au pair agencies charge future clients, because of the need for more costly background checks.
The foreign exchange program has brought about 40,000 European au pairs to the United States since 1986.
Congress probably will examine the au pair program next fall and could repeal the new rules or install its own regulations.
by CNB