We were a host family for a 15 year girl from Germany. The experience in our home was great, but we never received regular contact from the organization as they promised to do at the beginning of the school year. Everything seemed alright until our student went on a weekend function at a beach house. There was an incident that occurred that gave me no choice but to contact CPS. Soon after the incident, the student was pulled from our home. They removed us from the Facebook group, which I thought was a kick in the teeth. I am seeking additional help to insure that this organization is held responsible for what occurred at the beach house, and the actions they took after the incident. Avoid AFS at all costs.
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Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I had the misfortune of working for AFS-USA for a very short period of time and my opinion of that time is: You simply cannot run a business as if it’s a hippie commune in Haight Asbury during the “Summer of Love”.
A business needs constant waves of new ideas, goal settings, critical thinking and subtle and not-so-subtle changes to keep growing and expanding.
AFS-USA is run by people doing the same thing in the same way year after year. They are not bad people - just burnt out people. Some have been there over 25 years. Doing their jobs in the same style, at the same place, with the same folks. They not only have no interest or desire to change things, they are actively encouraged not too.
I could never understand the panic that would happen when they needed to make “goal” or the inability to comprehend when things went wrong. In an any major business , if a style becomes out of date , you change it, tweak it, fix it or remove it. You don’t just keep plugging away. At AFS-USA, they live for doing things exactly as they were taught some 35 years ago.
Hello? We have penicillin now. We have the Internet? HELLO?? This is not World War 1.
Also, while being a “non-profit”, I was shocked at the level of very “corporate” perks awarded certain individuals. This is a company that despises all things “Big Business” and applauds all things liberal and democratic. That’s great! Fly economy, then. Cut down on the amount of travel being done by staff to begin with. Is it really necessary to send a staff member to Paris to bring a “troubled teen” back to the States? That staff member gets free air-fare, a hotel and a decent semi-vacation…..for free..
From what the staff still there (they have laid off hundreds of people in a cost cutting scheme that again, sounds very “corporate” to me) says, it’s just a complete disaster and running on fumes.
Do yourself a favor. Send your kid around the world for his high school graduation present. Avoid this place.
We are right now experiencing the same kind of situation that others have talked about, where a student was abruptly pulled from the home over a fairly minor issue, that could have easily been resolved with some guidance from AFS. The student made the unlucky choice of calling his liaison for help one day, and the next day found himself being picked up from school with his belongings and whisked off to a new family in another town. My children were heartbroken and filled with self-blame for what they could have done to cause this situation. Although we were advised by AFS to break all contact with the student, so he could start his "new life" elsewhere, we have followed his saga on Facebook, where he has poured out his frustration, anger and despair over being uprooted from his family and friends here, and his continued attempts, over the past 3 months, to return to our town. He has even rallied the support of his friends at his high school here, having them sign petitions supporting his attempts to return here. AFS seems to have turned a deaf, bureaucratic ear to his pleas. I think AFS simply does not have the staff to deal with situations of any kind of complexity. It is so sad for the student, who will remember for the rest of his life that his experience in America was marred like this. And sad for my children, who feel that the wonderful experience of having an AFS student somehow failed, for reasons they do not quite understand.
I have experienced AFS both as a parent of a student sent to a year long program in Germany as well as a liaison for students visiting the US. I have found the AFS teams in both countries to be responsive in supporting a variety of activities as well as providing guidance in times of need. In Germany, my son had several liaisons connect his transition to a new country and a new language. Someone was always available to him and he found friends in the AFS chapters as well as the people he met through school and community activities.
Personally, I have enjoyed the people and students of AFS and my family has been given the opportunity to connect with other cultures. I would recommend the AFS program without hesitation.
We hosted a student. Initially the experience was exciting. The volunteers were responsive. But early on there was tension in the family. We were encouraged to work it out - a good suggestion. But then the student said she did not think it would get better. Without helping her figure out how she could tell us the problem they moved her. They -the liaison and her supervisor never helped us talk about the problems. She never talked to me about what the problems were. They just remove red her from the house without regards to anyone's feelings. This student could have learned so much about negotiating relationships but did not. I then spoke with the liason's supervisor. She was no help. She just dismissed the issue. I realize that some kids who were in the exchange program experienced something awful. But even with this small problem I think they did a dis-service to us as a host family and the student. I will not recommend AFS to anyone.
Comments
- By: John
- Age: 48
- Posted: Oct 29, 2012
- By: Cathie
- Age: 55
- Posted: Oct 30, 2012