I cannot recommend this agency for hosting exchange students. I signed up to be a welcome family…read morefor the 2024 year, and was informed by the regional manager that he would be with us for 4-6 weeks before moving to his permanent host parents. However, he stayed with us from August 25th, 2024, to February 2nd, 2025, which was the first of many misleading statements made by the agency.
I was told that the student I would be hosting had already been accepted into the local high school, but I soon found out that accepted and enrolled are not the same thing. The coordinator I spoke with initially was not aware of this distinction, and I was left to navigate the school district's enrollment process on my own. The agency charges a significant amount of money to the parents of the exchange student. You would assume there would be more support but there was very little support provided during the enrollment process.
Once the student arrived, it took about two weeks to get him into his classes. I was referred to the local area coordinator, who informed me that the agency had lied about previously placing students at the specific high school near my home. The school is known to be average, but the students are typically not motivated. I was not made aware of this fact, and my biggest concern was placing a student at that school. Unfortunately, we had to move the student because he was so unhappy in his school.
At the start of my host parenting journey, the local coordinator and I got along well. However, this changed in early October when the monthly home visits stopped, and communication became scarce. I was told that home visits were required monthly by state regulation, but the last visit in November was just the coordinator picking up the student for an event and dropping him off. There were no home visits in December or January.
Another issue we had was the inaccuracy of the student's application. Based on the application, we thought we would have a lot in common. However, as we got to know our student, we found that he had misrepresented himself and put things that made him sound appealing to a host family. His hobbies included watching movies and photography, but in fact, he hated movies and did not like photography. He was also allergic to dogs, which I made clear on my application as I have four dogs.
The regional manager called me and spoke to me about these issues, including the fact that the student did not seem interested in going on outings with us. She apologized and said that our student was a "potato" because he was so boring. I was shocked that anyone would speak about a child in their care in such a way.
It seems that this organization does not care about the students and passes the blame game to everyone else. There were several times I had to ask for status updates on the student's new home, and when a new home was finally found, we were told not to say anything to him about moving. He was only informed on Thursday night that he was moving on Sunday. He didn't even have the opportunity to say goodbye to some of his friends and teachers. It broke my heart, as I had grown attached to him and tried to make him a part of our family. We still speak every week to this day, and I am glad to have met and hosted such a wonderful young man.
In conclusion, I cannot recommend this agency for hosting exchange students. The lack of support, misleading statements, and inaccurate applications are unacceptable. Additionally, the way the organization speaks about the students in their care is concerning. I hope that other families considering hosting an exchange student will consider this review and choose a more reliable and supportive agency.
