I am so sorry about what happened to you and your family. My family and I are still reeling from the incredibly terrible treatment we received from an exchange agency last fall. They were breaking multiple state department regulations and subjecting our student to an abusive school situation. After my complaints fell on deaf ears at the corporate level, I contacted Mr. Stanley Colvin at the U.S. Department of State. He is acting director of the state department’s educational and cultural affairs division which is responsible for enforcing state department regulations for exchange agencies. There are already plenty of regulations on the books. They simply are not enforced. The DOS and the sponsoring exchange agencies seem to enjoy a mutually satisfying relationship while the needs of foreign exchange students and their host families are ignored. I urge you to contact Danielle Grijalva at the Committee for the Safety of Foreign Exchange Students at CSFES.org This committee was formed after it became evident that foreign exchange students and host families were being abused at the hand of sponsoring exchange agencies. In addition the agencies’ despicable behavior, they receive millions of dollars in federal grant money each year. Many exchange students’ families pay from $6000 to $15,000 to send their kids here. These agencies are making millions while host families foot the bill. I again urge you to contact CSFES.org Danielle or another member will be happy to guide you through the steps you need to take to submit a complaint. You should not have had to go through what you did. To protect the student and you, the agency should have removed that student from your home after your first complaint. Also, they are obligated by DOS regulations to report that incident to the DOS immediately or risk losing their DOS designation. If DOS regualtions were enforced, they would be stripped of their designation immediately. Good luck to you.

I, too, have had experience with CSFES and back you up 100% with your suggestion. I am hopeful that your suggestion to the family with trouble at the hands of the student exchange agency does contcact www.csfes.org. While the organization may seem it always goes to bat to protect students, it is balanced in that it looks to the student exchange organization to equally do its job. All too often student exchange organizations take in more students than they have host families. This is where the trouble begins. Always the outcome is disasterous. Anyone reading this who needs help—get in touch with the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students!

I have thought that students who are repatriated when it is not their fault ought to contact lawyers here (good ones) and sue for contract damages, consumer fraud, and emotional distress. There may even be a potential class action. It’s true that the agency uses repatriation as the ultimate weapon against kids who complain about unacceptable conditions.

Host families should revolt and refuse to host. We are gullible suckers—giving free room and board, and a year of our lives, sometimes sacrificing a lot and suffering stress and family disruption and disfunction, so that the agencies can rake in the kids’ money. Foreign students should be made aware that they are paying for a mere “chance” at a nice experience with a lovely family. Host families should be made aware that they are taking a big chance with a year of their lives. Foreign students should not be paying good money to live with families who, in August and September of the academic year, are begged, guilted, cajoled, and deceived into hosting, “temporarily” or permanently. Host families should not be hosting spoiled or clueless kids. Whatever the number of great families out there, that should be the absolute limit on the number of visas that should issue. There’s no excuse for multiple agencies exponentially increasing the number of lucrative placements, due to the gullibility of people like us, who step in due to “emergencies.” We should all pool our info and get the DOS to respond. Keep this going, everyone! It really is important for international relations not to have this go unaddressed.

My opinion is that year-long programs are not a good idea. Six- to eight-week programs-yes. Year-long- NO!