In-home Caregivers provide care for children in the child’s home. In addition to family childcare providers, relatives and friends (kith and kin), the definition includes nannies, au pairs, doulas, mother’s helpers and babysitters The types of arrangements parents create include full-time, part-time, temporary, nights or weekend care, share-care with another family, live-in or live out.   Parents create in-home childcare arrangements based on their child’s age, family lifestyle and work commitments.

baby nurse and post-partum doulas

Post-Partum Doulas and Baby Nurses provide postpartum care to both mother and baby.  Their responsibilities include care for the newborn, parenting advice and guidance in the care of the newborn, breastfeeding support and advice, cooking, errands, and light housecleaning

nanny

According to the International Nanny Association (INA) a nanny is someone who comes into a parent’s home and provides individual loving, responsible and nurturing childcare. A nanny can be live-in or live out, full-charge with both parents working outside the home or in partnership with a stay-at-home parent. The actual responsibilities are unique to each family but most often include full care for the child, the housekeeping related to the child, running errands as needed and keeping the house in the same order it is usually in.

mother’s helper

A mother’s helper assists a stay-at-home mom with childcare and managing the daily household responsibilities.

babysitter

A babysitter provides childcare, generally for a few hours at a time during evenings and weekends.

au-pair

An au-pair is a European woman between the age of 18-25 years who comes to the U.S. under the auspices of a program managed by the U.S. Information Agency (USIA).  Au-pairs are under contract for one year to provide a maximum of 45 hours/week of childcare for children over 3 months of age in exchange for the cultural experience of living in the U.S. and a small salary (approximately $1,600 per month including room and board).  Parents pay an agency fee (approximately $3,500), transportation to bring the au-pair to the U.S. and a return ticket home at the end of the au-pair’s year contract.