The most important role of au pair agencies is to make sure that the au pairs they offer are suitable for the job and trustworthy. This is done by selecting au pairs through interviews, reference checks, background checks, and personality tests.

Federal regulations require au pair agencies in the US to use personality tests as part of the Au Pair selection process. Personality tests are important because no assessment method is 100% accurate, and combining multiple tools is the only way to increase the overall accuracy of the pre-employment assessment.

This is why:

Interviews often do not reveal important facts or problematic personality traits, and their predictive value is limited, even when conducted by properly trained interviewers. In a recent case involving a babysitter adoption scam, the mother who interviewed her said: “She seemed like a great person, very articulate, very intelligent, she seemed so loving and so nice … she sounded like a textbook “. , great babysitter for me. Just perfect. “The” successful interview “was not the only point of failure in the selection process. The babysitter was hired through a national website that matches parents with local babysitters and babysitters, had experience with infants and children small and reportedly passed a criminal background check with flying colors.

· References are very subjective. What is the value of the opinion of someone you do not know? What are your expectations, values, standards? In another recent case, an intern babysitter was arrested on child pornography charges 5 months after she was hired through a well-known full-service babysitting agency. According to the parents, “the agency provided excellent job references.”

Background research is extremely important but full of loopholes. The scope, timeliness, and accuracy of various searched databases may be limited. For example, a nanny was arrested for driving under the influence, with her charges, 2 and 8 years, in the car. Several months later, the babysitter’s profile was still displayed on another national website that linked parents to babysitters, as her original background investigation showed no offense. Furthermore, every criminal does not have a criminal record until his first offense (or indeed, the first conviction). Will this first offense harm your children?

Personality tests became mandatory for the detection of au pairs in the US in the wake of cases such as that of Louise Woodward, a young English au pair convicted of the involuntary manslaughter of an eight-month-old baby who died from the Shaken baby syndrome, and another case of a Swiss Au pair who escaped from a burning house without trying to save the 3-month-old baby she was caring for.

These tests offer additional and valuable information about the character and personality traits of the au pair and can highlight problems that are very difficult to identify through an interview, such as problems performing under pressure or a tendency to violent behavior. The importance of personality tests as an au pair screening tool increases as interviews are less effective once conducted over the phone rather than face-to-face, and databases that are used for research on Backgrounds in many countries are often not of the same quality as those used in the US.

Has the mandatory requirement of personality tests improved au pair detection? Not necessarily.

Some Au Pair agencies in the United States seem to be using inappropriate personality tests. According to Ilona Bray, “Any Au Pair agency can take a fluffy internet personality test that has nothing to do with childcare and give it to candidates and still comply with regulations.” (Nannies and Au Pairs, In-Home Child Care Hiring, USA Today, 2010).

At least some Au Pair agencies appear to compromise the quality of testing, in an effort to comply with federal regulation at minimal cost. One of the tests used by au pair agencies is the Booraem-Flores Psychometric Test Au Pair, which is limited to answering whether an au pair is likely to lose emotional control under stress or is more likely to make poor safety judgment when under stress. When asked about a more comprehensive test for personality attributes, Dr. Flowers, a co-author of the test, responded, “A test for these positive attributes would be coin-operated, but difficult and expensive to develop.” He had a similar response related to the production of a report that could be shown to parents: “The problem is that the cost of the evaluation would increase considerably if individualized reports were generated.”

In fact, cost is an issue for many parents, and raising children is a significant financial burden. But compromising the safety and well-being of our children by accepting a sub-optimal screening test, just to save a few dollars, can have disastrous consequences and cannot be accepted. Additionally, the use of proper personality tests can reduce the chances of a re-match and associated costs.

Not all personality tests are created equal and you have to use the correct type of test. Risk analysis, which highlights possible risk factors, is an extremely important component of personality tests. For example, NannyTest covers the following: violent behavior, drug abuse, drinking problems, truthful reporting, respect for property, and more. In addition, the test assesses personality traits such as responsibility, obedience and discipline, self-control, emotional stability, coping with pressure, positive attitude, and service awareness.

To protect our children, we must ensure that the caregiver selection process is the best possible. Parents should require that quality personality tests be used as part of the caregiver selection process. If the agency does not perform the proper personality tests, or if the agency is unwilling to share the test report, parents can easily conduct such tests on their own. Relevant personality tests, such as NannyTest, are now available online for all parents, easy to use, and very affordable.