Anna Frank Lewis, Local Childcare Consultant, Cultural Care Au Pair

Another Halloween in the books! 🎃 I love sharing this holiday with our au pairs—joining our family costume theme, seeing their first trick-or-treat night, and embracing all the spooky fun (and candy!). 👻🍬

✨ One of my favorite parts of being a local au pair coordinator is hosting our monthly au pair meetings! Each month, we come together for a fun social gathering — building friendships, sharing cultural experiences, and talking through any challenges along the way. It’s such a joy to support these incredible young people and watch them grow throughout their time in the U.S. 💫🌎

Ever wondered what an au pair is? This post is for you!

💡 Thinking about hosting an au pair but unsure what the costs look like? Hosting involves both mandatory and optional expenses—here’s a clear breakdown so you can plan with confidence. Swipe through to learn what’s included in the program and what to budget for!

Many families find that hosting costs are comparable to or lower than full-time childcare, with the added benefit of cultural exchange and flexibility.

Learning to drive in a new country can take time — and that’s okay! 🚗✨
Swipe through to learn key tips for helping au pairs build confidence and stay safe behind the wheel. The last photo shows one of our amazing au pairs getting comfortable driving our family minivan — go, Fer! 💪💜

🍂🎃 Fall is here, and we love soaking up every bit of spooky season with our au pairs! Halloween is always one of the most-loved traditions to share together—family costumes, trick-or-treating, and all the festive fun. Our au pairs look forward to this holiday every year, and it’s such a joy to experience it through their eyes. Beyond Halloween, we love visiting pumpkin patches, apple picking, getting lost in corn mazes, and enjoying all the fall festivals ✨👻

Learn more about the program here: https://www.culturalcare.com/lcc/alewis/

Hi, I’m Anna 👋 I’m excited to welcome you to my page as a Local Childcare Consultant with Cultural Care Au Pair! For the past 3.5 years, my family has had the joy of hosting au pairs—young people from around the world who live with us and provide flexible childcare while sharing their culture. 💜

This program isn’t just about childcare—it’s about building connections, creating a global family, and giving your kids the chance to learn from someone with a whole new perspective. 🌍✨

I’ll be sharing stories, resources, and a closer look at how the au pair program works so other families can discover the same benefits we’ve experienced. Follow along to learn how this unique cultural exchange could be the perfect fit for your family! 💫

Last weekend we had three of the four au pairs we’ve hosted together at once! (We were only missing sweet Rebeca.💕)

Tumi is from South Africa 🇿🇦
Anne is from the Netherlands 🇳🇱
Debora is from Brazil 🇧🇷
(And Rebeca is from Austria 🇦🇹)

One thing we love about the au pair program is building our global family. I love the reunion stories about host kids visiting their childhood au pairs - we prioritize keeping in touch with our au pairs for that reason. It’s so fun to have travel buddies all over the world! 🌎

Welcome to my page! I hope this is helpful for anyone considering an au pair for your childcare needs!

I’ll kick it off with an introduction and our story - We moved to Charlottesville, VA in March of 2022. We were moving from Northern Virginia, an area with an abundance of childcare solutions. We were a daycare family. It was easy, predictable, and didn’t require much effort beyond finding a suitable center with an opening. Since my husband and I both work outside the home full time, we needed to secure childcare in our new city. We assumed we would continue in one daycare center or another - until we started calling around. Charlottesville is an amazing, charming little town, but daycare centers with availability are hard to come by. I was met with waiting lists that were months-long…months of time we just didn’t have. (Think getting on daycare waiting lists before you’re even pregnant!) Because of that, we had to pivot. Initially I thought nanny, but that search also proved to be a challenge. How could I find someone reputable to care for my babies - and how would I afford them? Thankfully, we had heard of the au pair program through family and friends, and we decided to explore this option further. Was I a little nervous about committing to a year of live-in childcare from a stranger? Admittedly yes, but I was also excited by the cultural exchange aspect of the program and what that would mean for my children. After a few weeks of searching and interviewing, we matched with our first au pair. She joined our family shortly after our move, and she was incredible. We’re still in touch with her, and we miss her dearly. (She returned home to Austria after her program year.) One thing that was lacking in her year was local program support, and one thing I experienced firsthand was the gap in affordable, reliable childcare solutions in Charlottesville. As a result, I felt called to step into this role as a local childcare consultant with our au pair agency, Cultural Care Au Pair. My hope is that through this page I can educate others on the benefits of the au pair program and help you decide if this is the right fit for your family. Please ask me any questions - I’m here to be a resource, and I truly am passionate about this program.

As for our family, we will continue to be a host family for the foreseeable future! We have three kiddos, and we’re in our third year of hosting! We love building this global family of ours, and our kids have a deeper understanding of the world and the beauty of cultural exchange. 🌎

If you know of anyone looking for childcare, please share my page with them. I’m based in Virginia, but our agency services the entire U.S.!