| My daughter had a bad experience with AFS also. AFS does discourage contact with home. We wanted to visit her (brought it up even before she left) and were told not to. We were not informed about her location or host family until less than a week before she left. And when she felt she had to leave her first family the AFS reps were of minimal help - the most helpful and sympathetic person she found was the principal of the school she was attending. My advice would be not to send a child who is not extremely self-sufficient and outspoken to this program. |