Background/reference checks for host families of exchange students? (public schools, uniforms, pay) - Education -universities, high schools, elementary schools, teachers... - City-Data Forum

Thoughtbroker · 01-14-2012, 06:37 AM

Does anyone know what background/reference checks are done on families who want to host foreign exchange students? A while ago, I met a guy who seemed kind of creepy and weird. Shortly after that, I heard that a foreign exchange student was moving in with him. Within a few months, the student begged to be moved to another home, but wouldn't say why. Now I'm worried about how well these organizations protect these kids visiting our country. Does anybody know?

achtungpv · 01-14-2012, 07:55 AM

I don't know. I remember one exchange student at my high school having to be moved to another host family since the original one didn't have a bed for him and he was sleeping on the floor.

G Grasshopper · 01-14-2012, 12:26 PM

I think it depends on what agency the student is going through. If you know the agency, you should call them directly and inquire as to their screening procedures.

waitressinthesky · 01-16-2012, 07:15 PM

I worked for a pretty reputable international language school in California that had a nightmare situation with its host families. In fact, there was a big newspaper expose on the foreign students being placed in homes where they were forced to scrub toilets, eat cereal for every meal and were being abused, even. Dunno if they did background checks, but I do know a lot of people were in it for the money! The money was supposed to compensate the families for the cost of hosting the student and then some, but some people were going to such extreme lengths to make a bigger profit that the students were being mistreated.

Some of my students (ages 12-20) were literally coming to school miserable and starving. It was sad to see. Luckily, the newspaper story really changed things for the better, but you'd still see some bad cases where students had to be transferred and families banned from the hosting program.

waitressinthesky · 01-16-2012, 07:16 PM

Oh, also students sleeping in non-converted garages, sleeping 5+ students to a tiny room, charging students for items that were included in their bills already and being verbally abusive (and, in one really disturbing case, sexually abused).

G Grasshopper · 01-17-2012, 08:33 AM

We had a student through AYUSA for a school year when we lived in CA. We didn't get paid anything. It was a volunteer situation. We were recruited by someone we knew. There was a big application, but I imagine our "character reference" was the fact that we were a known family to the recruiter. Our student was treated like one of the family. We asked him (really his parents) to pay for his phone bill and the air fare when we traveled with him, but really nothing else. I think there is more risk of bad situations when the host family is paid, as some will do it for the money and not really care about the student. I would say that it was generally a good experience, both for us and for our student.

teachbeach · 01-20-2012, 07:02 PM

We hosted 4 exchange students and were never paid or compensated for any of them. There were students that were moved out of homes and into others because of the situations mentioned above (one was forced to be a nanny to younger family members, having to share a room with a younger family member of the opposite sex etc.)

We were screened and referenced the first time, but after that they would beg us to take students each year. We gave our exchange student an allowance for school lunches and some extracurricular fees (sporting events, plays, athletic uniforms etc.) but they were expected to pay for any of their "wants".

stepka · 01-20-2012, 07:27 PM

Much depends on the company I think. We did it for a semester and had many problems with the company and the student and the company did very little to help. I don't remember that there was much of a screening process and I didn't even have to get more than a cursory background check. However I work at a school and have already had the FBI check but they didn't ask for proof of that. Also, they needed to have an area coordinator, but since we were the first family in our town to get a student from this company, they asked me to line one up myself. I got one of my friends, a very responsible sped teacher, to be the AC, but if we were dishonest or wanted to molest a child I think it would have been easy for us to do so. The girl did not work out and the whole experience left me soured, though I have talked to families who used better companies and they had much better experiences.

germaine2626 · 01-21-2012, 08:05 AM

We have had quite a few exchange students stay with us for both short and long periods of times and we treated them like members of the family. We never had any type of compensation but normally the students had spending money to pay for their own entertainment, clothes etc. The companies vary but in each case we had to fill out forms stating that the child would have their own bed, adequate meals, a safe environment, etc. All but one of these exchange students were connected to the current school that our son or daughter attended so the school was aware of what type of parents we were (ie. no reports to social services, our own children appropriately clothed and fed, etc). This was a number of years ago so they didn't require formal back ground checks, although in some cases we had to list references and employers and some of those were contacted. I was a public school teacher at that time so I believe that they may have checked out other parents more carefully (as all teachers have had background checks).

The one student that was not connected to school was required to call his area adult contact once per week to verify that everything was OK. One week when we were busy Pierre forgot to call and the adult kept calling back until he reached the student (who was 18). The contact asked Pierre to go to another room to talk to him & of course they spoke in their native language. I didn't ask about it but Pierre volunteered that the students with that company were requested to talk to their contact in private so that they could be honest about their situation and not afraid to bring up any problems. That company also had a person come to our house, before Pierre arrived, to meet the family & to see where he would be sleeping (they asked to see the entire house). We had very, very positive experiences with all of our exchange students. My daughter still has contact with several of the students & has visited some of them in Europe.

Regarding your specific situation. It looks like that student may need some help. If you can't find out what company it is you may want to contact social services or the police. If everything is OK, it's not a big deal but if something is wrong then you did a valuable service for that child.

BTW Sometimes agencies get desperate and may need to find someone at the last minute. Perhaps that is how the "creepy guy" was assigned a student. My daughter told me last August that there were a huge number (I think she said over 1,000) high school students from around the world who had arranged to study abroad in the US through AFS (one of the oldest and biggest organizations) who did not yet have a host family and most public schools either had already started the school year or were going to start in a week or two. If AFS was having that many problems finding host families than I'm sure that other less well known agencies were having even bigger problems.

germaine2626 · 01-21-2012, 09:24 AM

Just a clarification, obviously you wouldn't call the police unless you had some details to tell them, not just that the host is weird & creepy. My point is try to figure out if the child needs help and if you feel that he may need help please help them or make sure that someone who can help gets the information. Imagine if your child or niece or nephew was in a foreign country in a bad situation, you would want someone to help them.