We had an au pair from Cultural Care Au Pairs and she took nude photos of our 6 yr old daughter, then she put them on a Swedish web site called rezdagboken. Local police here in Connecticut could not get an arrest warrant because only one photo was considered pornographic, when you need three photos for it to be illegal.CC Au Pairs has they're offices in Massachusetts where they are protected by local laws calling au pairs independent contractors. What a shame, this slob was named Hannah H**** from Sweden, stay far away from this agency they SUCK!
23 comments:
I call foul on this post. The grammer is off and I think any nude photos of a child are illegal if the parents consider it so. Laws are pretty stiff for this kind of stuff.
I have had au pairs in the past. We also had a *terrible* experience with Cultural Care (called EF Au Pair back then). We had one great au pair, then a couple of terrible ones. One actually got completely, totally drunk while watching our daughter. We terminated her immediately and choose to leave the program. Apart from the ridiculous process they put us through in leaving, then we had to fight to get our contractually deserved refund. We ultimately had to sue them before they gave the refund.
FWIW, this is the same agency that brought over Louise Woodward as she was placed in the same area as us and we heard the story first hand from the counselor.
After this experience we switched to Au Pair in America. They have their minor issues too, but are much more organized, responsive, and supportive to both families and au pairs.
Notsofast;
It is spelled grammar. He who casts stones must be without sin.
OP. Thanks for posting this warning. I'm so sorry this happened to your family.
That's horrible... I hope this is a false post just for the sake of a little girl out there :(
The Swedish National Library apparently has a large collection of child pornography dating from the 1970s, when it had not yet been made illegal.
My advice to parents. Stop hiring Jamaican women. They don't raise or regard children the same way we Americans do. Hell, most of them have abandoned their children in Jamaica to come here and work and get their nails done and buy logo bags. Don't use au pairs because they are way too dependant on you, too sketchy and have even less in common with your way of life than an off the boat Jamaican.
Find yourself a humble, American. Look at daycares and preschools. Offer them as many perks as you can provide to make the job seem desirable, treat them well and pay the best and most fair salary you can afford.
Follow your gut. Drop in. Pop in. Stop in. Call in. Stay in charge. You are the parent. Let's stop this rampant outsourcing of raising children.
You want me to recognize you on Mother's Day? Be a G-d damn mom.
This is terrible. But I too am confused that you need THREE pornographic photos for it to be a crime?
I saw a grandmother on television once who was prohibited from being alone with her young granddaughters because she snapped some nude photos of them after a bath...artsy ones, as she was a professional photographer. She had them developed at some place like Target. The photo clerk called authorities, which got the ball rolling, and her right to be alone with them was terminated. Some of the photos were displayed on the tv show and they were clearly innocent photos. The parents of the girls were fine with the photos, but the authorities didn't care.
I personally think that taing even one nude photo of somebody else's child without the parents permission should be a crime. And obviously if a parent consents to anybody taking skeevy photos of their child, the parents need prosecuted too. And there should also be a law against any nude photos of children being posted on the web...ever...even those innocent ones. It may be extreme, but it could save a lot of kids if the laws were a lot more harsh.
This is beyond creepy. It makes my skin crawl to think that anybody could get turned on by sweet innocent little babies.
How did you end up finding this out? Did your daughter tell you, or did you know about the au pairs website before this? Hopefully the au pair took the photo's down.
My comments never get posted. Boo.
AML
As long as you use a moniker, you get to stay. They only delete anonymous posts.
I had made a comment in regards to "Source" but it never showed up. Ah well.
source-
I'm not sure what relevance Jamaican nannies have to this post and you're portraying yourself as ignorant.
Bad seeds come in all colors and ethnities.
I had a Jamaican nanny as a child and she was amazing. My whole family loved her.
On the other hand as a child my husband had a well educated, middle class, young caucasian woman watching him and his brother. They have memories of said babysitter taking off her clothes and revealing herself to them in the hopes they would want to touch her.
We had an american nanny, 23 years of age that I had to let go due to complete laziness and lack of iniative.we now have a woman who was born in Mexico (she's legal incase you flame throwers try to ignite) who is amazing and my son and daughter love her as do my husband and I. Her pay reflects the wonderful job she does with our most important possessions.
The point of the matter is that if parents did the proper screening and monitoring it wouldn't be a problem what color, creed,or ethnicity of the individual.
I am not commenting on whether I think this post is true or false--but it absolutely doesn't take three photos to be considered child pornography. That is completely untrue. This country takes child pornography VERY seriously. Simply viewing it is a crime and taking the pictures is most definitely a crime.
I will temper that by saying a nude photo of a baby isn't necessarily sexual. It's common for parents to take pictures of their babies in the bath, etc. Nannies/au pairs/babysitters should steer well clear of the practice just to protect themselves, but perhaps the police didn't feel the one naked picture of your child was in anyway sexualized.
What was the nature of the website she posted them to?
I am not sure on the laws, but I know from working in a picture studio that up until the age of 1 children can be photographed nude, not showing privates obviously but after the age of one, only boys can be photographed top less. The problem with this maybe that the photos were posted to a website outside of the United States, and unless she actually has copies of them that prove she was the one to take them, it maybe hard to have a case against her.
Hi everyone, I'm Swedish and I would just like to mention that the site mention; "rezdagboken" (which is btw misspelled; it's called 'resdagboken') doesn't allow any naked pictures.
I'm not saying OP is a liar, I'm just saying that there must be a misunderstanding of what site is involved..
Although I agree that CC is horrible, they're well known as EF here in Sweden and DO NOT hire them!!
And NO -we do not have child pornography in our National Library! Or any other library ´for that matter.
Linda,
I beg to differ with you. That is a NEW's SOURCE.
My guess on the statement of the Swedish Nat'l Library containing "child pornography" is that it contains some images of children partly or totally unclothed. Which does NOT necessarily mean itis pornography.
I'm posting here because I'm so troubled that so many people are assuming this story is fake, or are arm-chair lawyering and saying "there's no way it takes 3 pictures." Guess what? This is not a fake story, and these things are governed by state law. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukm1tAq2ENM
to view the news story.
I would just suggest to those that call the poster a liar off-hand, that you Google the story or at least do a little fact checking before you add to what that person is going through.
And, avoid Cultural Care at all costs. We were CC host family for 5 years, and could relate to you many terrible experiences with them. They are bad for host families and even worse for the au pairs.
Do you have a link to an actual news site recording or the typed transcript? Rather then a recording of the news station on you tube? Not doubting you but would prefer a better understanding of it from a news source.
Sure, CuriousDad:
Google this sort of thing and you'll find tons of stories. I discussed this with a Cultural Care representative tonight, and the response was, "You can Google any company and find a ton of bad stories." To an extent, that's true. And I don't think by any means ALL au pairs are bad. Most are great. We've been host parents for 5 years. We've had some great ones and a few that would scare any parent to death.
At any rate, here are some links:
The story in question: http://www.masscops.com/forums/new-england/46818-nanny-nightmare-couple-claims-au-pair-took-inappropriate-photos.html
bottom of this page, same story: http://www.aupairclearinghouse.com/node/16
and this one a few weeks ago killed her own baby in the host family's basement: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2009/07/brazilian_au_pair_gets_12_to_2.html
A different au pair, a similar problem http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local071709_nanny_faces_child_porn_charges
And, au pairs not immune to crime either: http://www.aupairclearinghouse.com/node/53
And finally, one au pair kills another au pair, http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4270026
Sure, CuriousDad:
Google this sort of thing and you'll find tons of stories. I discussed this with a Cultural Care representative tonight, and the response was, "You can Google any company and find a ton of bad stories." To an extent, that's true. And I don't think by any means ALL au pairs are bad. Most are great. We've been host parents for 5 years. We've had some great ones and a few that would scare any parent to death.
At any rate, here are some links:
The story in question: http://www.masscops.com/forums/new-england/46818-nanny-nightmare-couple-claims-au-pair-took-inappropriate-photos.html
bottom of this page, same story: http://www.aupairclearinghouse.com/node/16
and this one a few weeks ago killed her own baby in the host family's basement: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2009/07/brazilian_au_pair_gets_12_to_2.html
A different au pair, a similar problem http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local071709_nanny_faces_child_porn_charges
And, au pairs not immune to crime either: http://www.aupairclearinghouse.com/node/53
And finally, one au pair kills another au pair, http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4270026
My point is, don't be so quick to judge someone who posts an outrageous sounding story on here, because there's a lot of outrageous stuff going on.
It's very ignorant to call out nationalities. I'm Swedish and I've raised kids in both Sweden and American. and I can tell you there are good and bad things with both countries way to raise kids. And as we all know just because one person screw up doesn't mean all other 9 million from that country would do the same. Hire a nanny who you trust no matter nationality.
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