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The International Au Pair Association (IAPA) is the leading global trade association for organisations active in all aspects of au pair and cultural exchange programmes. IAPA has more than 170 member organisations active in 45 countries worldwide.
Every year IAPA holds a competition to identify an outstanding au pair who exemplifies all that is good about the au pair programme. Au pairs are nominated by their host family and the winner is selected by a panel comprised of IAPA board members.
The annual IAPA Au Pair of the Year Award provides au pairs the recognition and credit they deserve and enhances the public’s awareness of this wonderful cultural exchange programme and the mutual benefit au pairs and families get from it.
The Childcare Company is a proud supporter of the IAPA Au Pair of the Year Award and we are always delighted when our au pairs are nominated for the award.
IAPA Chairperson Patricia Brunner said: “We received a record number of 59 nominations this year and the competition was strong."
Luna with the Packham girls at the IAPA conference in Brussels.
Luna, a 21-year old au pair from Marbella, Spain spent her placement with the Packham family of Bedfordshire, England.
“The day she joined our family it was like an angel had joined us. Beautiful inside and out, Luna is a natural with children. But it was more than that. I had actually found something in Luna that I had never dreamt possible with an au pair. I had found someone who played with the children in the same way that I would play with them. She spoke to the girls how I would speak to the girls. She disciplined them just how I would discipline them. She encouraged them just as I would do. This wasn’t something learnt over time, it was just instinctive. This makes you feel amazingly comfortable and totally reassured that the most precious beings in your life will be well cared for. She truly felt a part of the family.”
The Childcare Company is delighted to have been the agent who arranged this placement. We believe that our skills and experience in au pair selection and family matching played a large part in bringing about this particularly successful placement.
If you would like to get involved with the au pair programme please get in touch to see if we can help you. We can’t promise another Luna, but by coming to us you will be giving yourself the best chance of having a successful and rewarding au pair experience.