THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 16, 1995 TAG: 9501160077
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LEESBURG LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
The story of a young Dutch woman accused of shaking to death an infant in her care has brought about government regulations that go too far, say some people involved in the foreign au pair program.
``I don't think government rules are the answer at all,'' said Paul Meighan, whose Great Falls family has had seven foreign babysitters arranged through federally sanctioned exchange programs.
Agencies that place nannies - or au pairs, as the young, mostly European women are often called - with American families are also 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 babysitters in apparent response to the death of Brenton Scott Devonshire.
The 8-week-old Loudoun County boy died in August, after his Dutch nanny allegedly shook him to quiet his crying.
Anna-Corina Peeze is scheduled to stand trial next month on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in Loudoun Circuit Court. She 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. It would also clearly establish the programs as educational exchanges, although au pairs could still perform 45 hours of child care each week.
During the initial publicity in Peeze's case, USIA Director Joseph Duffey said au pairs had become less ``mother's helpers,'' as they are intended, and more full-time babysitters.
Peeze had little formal infant-care training when she was placed with the Devonshires two weeks before the death.
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.''
The USIA received more than 1,500 letters since proposing changes in the au pair rules in December, Morgan said.
A monthlong public comment period on the proposed changes expired Friday. The USIA will review the comments and announce the final regulations in time for them to take effect Feb. 15.
Under the new rules, au pairs could not care for children younger than three months old.
And no au pair younger than 21 could care for children younger than 2. That rule would have excluded many of the au pairs the Meighans hired to care for their two daughters, ages 5 and 19 months. The family's current au pair, a 21-year-old woman from Norway, would be eligible.
``The maturity of the au pair, not her age, is what's important,'' Meighan said. 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 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.''
Morgan said the USIA will probably relax that rule, but he could not say exactly how.
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 will also 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 will probably examine the au pair program next fall and could repeal the new rules or install its own regulations. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Vaila Hubred, 21, of Norway, looks after Marte Meighan, 5, and her
sister, Sonja, 19 months, in the children's Great Falls home. The
Meighans have had seven foreign sitters.
KEYWORDS: NANNY AU PAIR by CNB