First off, you need to ask yourself if you have the time and dedication to become a host family. Hosting is a commitment. If you have holidays planned for the year, will you bring your student with you? Just like one of your own children, they are a responsibility and they should be considered a “new addition” to the family.

What are your expectations? Students are not meant to be seen as the family housekeeper, au pair or live-in babysitter. They want to be treated as an active member of the family. They should have roles and responsibilities such as cleaning their own room, helping with the washing up, and helping at meal times. For some students of different cultures, this could be a challenge, but with patience and perseverance adaptation is usually quick.

All types of families are encouraged to apply; there is no “typical”AFS/EIL host family. Some AFS/EIL families have children at home. Others are empty nesters with adult children or are couples with no children at all. Some are same sex couples. Some are single parents or are multi generational families. Even busy families find time to enjoy hosting AFS/EIL students!

In line with best practice Child Protection policies we are excluded from accepting Single Person households

1. To be warm, welcoming and open-minded.
2. Have a clean, comfortable, warm home.
3. To always treat the student the same as another member of the family.
4. To involve the student in all family activities including sharing daily meals together.
5. Have the patience to provide encouragement and support to the student who often suffer from homesickness and culture shock during the early stages of the programme.
6. Have a genuine interest in a cross cultural exchange experience. Students will want to share their culture with you as well.
7. The commitment to host for the full duration of the students stay, including Christmas and Easter holidays.
8. Be prepared to collect the student on arrival and bring them back to the airport on departure.

• Be a responsible and caring member of the family.
• Make a genuine effort to integrate with other family members and participate in all family activities.
• Chip in and help with small jobs around the house.
• Attend school regularly and show consistent effort.
• Share his/her culture and customs with hosts and community.
• Be committed to the program and communicate in an open and honest matter with their host family.

All families are visited and interviewed by an AFS/EIL local coordinator before they can be accepted for hosting. The purpose of this visit is to ensure that your home is a clean and comfortable environment for student. Exchange students do not necessarily have to have their own bedroom and can share a room with a host brother or sister but it must be a same sex arrangement. Each family will be interviewed to assess their motivation for becoming involved and their understanding of the commitment and challenges involved.

All persons in the household over 18 must be Garda Vetted by AFS/EIL Ireland. Garda Clearance for all people working with children or vulnerable adults has become mandatory under the National Vetting Bureau Acts 2012-2016. Without this clearance unfortunately you will not be able to host a student. The process will be explained by your local coordinator but rest assured it is simple and is completely confidential.

Students cannot just request to be moved to a new family. We have an obligation to the student and the host family to try and make sure all possibilities are explored to find a solution with the existing family before a move is decided. Many times initial unhappiness is due to homesickness, culture shock or communication misunderstandings. Your local coordinator is there to help in these situations. If we feel that the relationship between family and student cannot be repaired or improve, then we will move the student. Families also cannot just decide they no longer wish to host. Hosting is a commitment for the duration of the students stay. Only in special circumstances will we move students for any length of time.

AFS/EIL students arrive with their own spending money for social and school activities, clothes, etc. As a host family, you will not need to provide spending money or an allowance.

Your local coordinator will discuss how school related costs are handled.

We expect that the primary reason for hosting is not financially motivated. We do however realise that providing accommodation, heating, and food for hosting guests does come with a financial cost. We give our hosts a non-commercial hospitality allowance per week, normally sent at the end of each month. Please contact your local coordinator for more details.

Yes, 95% of our students stay in Ireland over Christmas as this an integral part of Irish cultural immersion. Spending time with a host family over Christmas gives both family and student an opportunity to share and appreciate their cultural differences.