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Holding the Baby

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“I thought it would be something like the Brady Bunch,” says British au pair Melanie, of living with an American family. Unfortunately, for Melanie, and many girls like her, the reality is very different. In the wake of the Louise Woodward scandal, Cutting Edge investigates what life is really like for British au pairs in the United States. Lynne, from Edinburgh, was looking forward to discovering a “dream land”. But her employer, Chris, just wants affordable child care. Anna, from Cheshire, was expecting a surrogate family, with a “host mother and father” and is surprised to be treated as just an employee. Many of the girls arrive to find they are expected to follow rigid rules and regulations and made to feel like second-class citizens.

“I thought it would be something like the Brady Bunch,” says British au pair Melanie, of living with an American family. Unfortunately, for Melanie, and many girls like her, the reality is very different. In the wake of the Louise Woodward scandal, Cutting Edge investigates what life is really like for British au pairs in the United States. Lynne, from Edinburgh, was looking forward to discovering a “dream land”. But her employer, Chris, just wants affordable child care. Anna, from Cheshire, was expecting a surrogate family, with a “host mother and father” and is surprised to be treated as just an employee. Many of the girls arrive to find they are expected to follow rigid rules and regulations and made to feel like second-class citizens.

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