South Jersey Aupairs

December 11, 2011

 Holiday Party “Holiday Party & Gift Exchange @ The Petinga’s House
Everyone must bring a food item from their home Country” 
6pm until ??

 ”$25 gift wrapped”

We will be having our November meeting at Starbucks in Mays Landing, NJ

November 20 2011 Coffee & Chat Starbucks,  760 Consumer Sq. Mays Landing, NJ 6pm-7pm

                                           For immediate release

CONTACT:   Guy Petinga II

                        Local
Childcare Coordinator

                        Cultural Care Au Pair

                        609-705-5842

                        guy.petinga@lcc.culturalcare.com

Au pairs act as cultural
role models for families who adopt internationally

Atlantic City, NJ- November 02, 2011— Since November was
officially hailed as National Adoption Month in 1990, it has become a time for families, adoption advocates,
policymakers, judges and volunteers to come together and celebrate adoption in
communities across the nation.

For parents who adopt internationally, this holiday is also
a reminder to support multi-culturalism and help children identify with their
birth culture. There are many suggestions as to how to do this, but according to one
of the largest studies of transracial adoptions, released by the
Adoption Institute in 2009, “Positive ethnic identity development is most
effectively facilitated by ‘lived’ experiences such as travel to native
country, racially diverse schools, and role models from their same race/ethnicity.”

LaClaire and Bobby Stewart of Spartanburg, SC—who adopted
son Josh from Guatemala as an infant—have taken this to heart and make
integrating his culture into their every day lives a priority. LaClaire, a
fluent Spanish speaker, talks to Josh and her biological son Gray in Spanish
regularly, and they are both bi-lingual as a result. The family is planning a
trip to Guatemala next year. And, the Stewarts have hosted three au pairs from
Central and South America since Josh’s arrival. Their au pairs not only provide
45 hours of live-in childcare per week, they bring their Spanish language,
cuisine and games into the household.

Says LaClaire, “Having an au pair supports the effort Bobby
and I make in bringing Latin American culture into our home. Our au pairs help Josh
and Gray improve their Spanish because they only speak Spanish with them during
the day. Our first au pair cooked tamales for us at Christmastime, and our
other au pairs have brought fairytale books and games from home—ones that we
might never come across in the U.S.”

Guy Petinga, Local Childcare Coordinator for Cultural Care Au Pair who supports
local families in South Jersey, says, “Seeing how impactful the program has
been for adoptive families in South Jersey, I advocate for any adoptive family
to investigate the au pair program.”

Just weeks after Kristi and Bob McKeown brought their
adopted son Spencer home from Guatemala; their first Latin American au pair
arrived to join the family in Raleigh, NC. They’ve hosted three additional au
pairs since, all from Colombia. Kristi shares, “The au pair program has worked
beautifully for us. Our au pairs have helped enabled ties to Spencer’s heritage
and development in three ways: intellectually, socially and academically.” She
adds, “When we are sitting at the dinner table, he speaks to his au pairs in
Spanish and then turns to us and speaks English. It’s amazing to see him
learning in this way. Hosting an au pair is not just childcare for us—it’s a
gift of cultural immersion.” Their family also travels to Guatemala every year
at Thanksgiving to celebrate their son’s culture and for what they are most
thankful.

“Transracially and transculturally adopted kids need more
than loving parents, more than culture camps, more than ethnic art and books.
They need people like themselves in their lives,” says Jana Wolff, bestselling
author of Secret
Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother, who adopted her multiracial son at birth. Jana adds, “Hosting an au
pair gives adoptive families the opportunity to enrich their lives with a
positive and personal multicultural experience.”

Lara Peterson of Bellevue, WA is also an adoptive parent—to
three girls from China, Gwenn, 12, Ella, 9 and Lucy, 6. She has been a long-time
host parent with Cultural Care Au Pair welcoming a total of 8 au pairs into her
family’s home. Although one of those au pairs was from China, the rest have
hailed from Finland, Poland, Sweden and Germany. Her current au pair is 19-year
old Sophie from Berlin.

Says Lara, “Having a diverse family has always been the norm
for us and our au pairs have enriched our multi-cultural experience even
further. Although it was exciting to host our one au pair from China, it’s just
as important that my daughters see that we can welcome people from all around
the world into our family, regardless of their race or cultural heritage.” To
ensure her daughters are exposed to their Chinese roots, the Petersons are very
involved in Families
with Children from China, a support organization for families who have
adopted children from China.

The number of adoptive parents who are inquiring about au
pairs is rising according to Melissa Fredette, Executive Vice President for
Cultural Care Au Pair, the nation’s largest au pair agency. “We’ve had more and
more interest in the program from adoptive families in the past few years. For
them, hosting an au pair fulfills two needs: affordable childcare and exposure
to a different culture.”

Adoptive families interested in learning more about the au
pair program in South Jersey can contact Guy Petinga, Local Childcare Coordinator
at 609-705-5842 or by email at guy.petinga@lcc.culturalcare.com

#     #    
#

Cultural Care Au Pair is the leading provider of intercultural
childcare and educational exchange. Since 1989, Cultural Care Au Pair has
placed more than 85,000 au pairs in welcoming American homes. A division of EF
Education and a U.S. Department of State regulated program, Cultural Care Au
Pair is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., with an extensive network of
recruitment, screening and orientation offices worldwide. For more information
about hosting an au pair, visit http://jpetinga.aupairnews.com or
call 609-705-5842

Embedded Links

Adoption Institute, Transracial Adoption Study

http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/research/2009_11_culture_camp.php

Jana Wolff, Secret
Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother

http://www.secretthoughtsofanadoptivemother.com/

Families With Children from China

http://fwcc.org/

Cultural Care Au Pair

http://www.culturalcare.com/

Need to teach your children how to swim? Have a pool or going on vacation and are your kids afraid of water?

Do not wait until it’s to late.

Contact the Atlantic City Aquatic Center today.

www.acacswim.org

They have certified USA Swimming instructors with many yeard of experience.

When your child or children are done swimming they will be confident in the water and will also be ready to swim competitvely in they want to.

Some of their affiliates are:

Terror in the Junkyard

The Scullville Volunteer Fire Company will present its Terror in the Junkyard Haunted Hayride and Maze 7-11 p.m. every Friday and Saturday, and 7-10 p.m. every Sunday in October at Fleming’s junkyard, 353 Zion Road, Egg Harbor Township. Hayride tickets are $9, maze tickets $5, combo tickets are $12. See www.scullvillefire.org.

Register for free: New families who apply from October 5, 2011 through October 13, 2011 using promo code PCOCTAW2011 will receive a $75 application fee waiver. To qualify, families must welcome an au pair by January 31, 2012.

For more information on this promotion, please contact me so we can talk or meet.

609-705-5842 or guy.petinga@lcc.culturalcare.com

THE HOST FAMILY EVENT THAT WAS SCHEDULED FOR TODAY SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2011 IS CANCELED.

Please join us in celbrating our Fourth Annual Host Family Event at Gillian’s Wonderland Pier in Ocean City, NJ.

This event will take place on September 11th, 2011 between the hours of 2pm and 5pm. The cost of this event is $25 per person riding the rides. This cost allows all riders to have unlimited access to all amusement park rides for two hours. After that please join us for pizza and drinks under the tent.

Anyonew who is not participating in the event or riding the rides is encouraged to forward a $5.00 donation to me for Kids First. This event is for the entire family. Bring your children, aupair and your friends. Know someone interested in an aupair but they still are uncertain? This is a great time for them to come They can ask us questions and see what we are about.

Any questions or concerns please call me at 609-705-5842

Please let me know by September 7th how many of you are coming.

New families who apply this weekend: Friday, July 15, 2011 through Sunday, July 17, 2011, using promo code PCWKND will receive a $450 program fee discount. To qualify for this savings, families must welcome an au pair by October 21, 2011.

Contact me for the latest and up to date promotional code.

Refer a friend and Collect $400. Also if you refer a friend between the 15th and 17th of July and your friend will receive $450 off the program. So Act NOW and you both save.

The biggest host family referral campaign of the year is now live! From July 1st through July 31st when a referred host family welcomes an au pair by October 21, 2011, the referring family can choose to receive a $400 program fee discount or cash bonus! Each referred family must be new to Cultural Care Au Pair, have children under the age of 18, and must welcome an au pair by October 21, 2011.

Call me with their details and I will provide you with the promotional code as well.

Guy Petinga

609-705-5842

guy.petinga@lcc.culturalcare.com