Why au pairs are becoming more popular in the Pittsburgh area
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — As child care in Pittsburgh continues to be expensive and hard to find, some working families are tapping into other resources.
KDKA-TV Consumer Investigator Meghan Schiller explains why Western Pennsylvania is seeing a rise in au pairs.
What are au pairs?
They're often confused with nannies, but au pairs are young people from overseas who live with an American family for up to two years thanks to a visa through a designated agency.
And as more local families find themselves on long wait lists at day cares or simply unable to afford the rates, they're turning to au pairs. One of those families is Kelly and Greg Hartzberg in Peters Township.
"We have four kids: 7, two 5-year-olds and a 2-year-old. Every day is a whirlwind in this house," Kelly Hartzberg said.
Like so many families in the area with two working parents, the Hartzbergs needed full-time child care, but the day care wait lists and cost didn't feel feasible.
"Expense was crazy for more than one kid," Greg Hartzberg said. "We went from one to three and started looking into how much it would be to send all three of them."
The Harzbergs used to live in New York City, where au pairs are popular. So, they started the process with Cultural Care Au Pair, the nation's largest agency.
"We log on, we find some au pairs that we are interested in matching with," Kelly Hartzberg said. "They have to then say they're interested in matching with you before you have a conversation. And then you have a conversation and see if it's the right fit for both parties."
How much does an au pair cost?
As for the costs, they're front-loaded.
"There's a base fee, which is around $8,000 per year," Greg Hartzberg said. "That covers their travel costs and costs associated with them getting here, visas, all of that type of stuff."
And then a $200 stipend per week. The family covers meals, housing, a cell phone and often a car. Greg Hartzberg said au pairs usually get multiple competitive offers.
"You have to tell them ahead of time if you come here, you get a cell phone," he said. "If you come here, we'll have a car that is dedicated. Here are our house rules and you lay that all out and they get to decide where they want to go."
Cultural Care Au Pair said more and more au pairs are deciding to go to Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania. The United States Department of State reported a 6 percent increase from 2018 to 2023.
Right now, more than 839 au pairs are in Pennsylvania, with 31 host families in Pittsburgh.
"Our second au pair, Mila, traveled to 26 states in two years," Greg Hartzberg said. "They have vacation time. They have weekends off. She utilized every single second and opportunity to travel to somewhere else in the United States."
Since the au pairs can only stay up to two years, Mila left and the Harzbergs just welcomed Vanessa from Italy. She's excited to practice her English and already put up some key Italian vocabulary words on the playroom wall.
"Our baby Eevie learned more Italian than she learned English at first, and I think that's just a crazy experience for her," Kelly Hartzberg said.
The Harzbergs realize the setup isn't for every family, as not everyone has the extra space or resources. But they're finding the cultural exposure rewarding.
"They're part of our family," Kelly Hartzberg said. "They go on vacation with us. They celebrate holidays with us. They really are part of our family, so it's just been a really good experience for us."
But at the end of the day, it's a relationship. And it can flourish or it can go sour. So, what happens if the relationship goes bad? The agency can work with a family to find another au pair and the au pair can find placement with another family.
The au pairs can work up to 45 hours a week. But families can ask to shift their schedules if needed.