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MidwestMom2Kids_ · 02-27-2008, 09:33 PM

When an AFS kid comes here from another country, there are generally at least four adults watching them: The host parent(s). The liaison parent(s), like a surrogate aunt and uncle to help out. The local volunteer coordinator. The paid AFS staff member for the region. The host parents are with the student daily of course, but everyone else checks in with the student regularly.
The parents of the foreign AFS kids may not hear where the kid is going until about a month before the kids arrive; sometimes it is not know until as short as a week before. The AFS host families are volunteers. Sometimes it is hard for the local volunteer coordinator to know where a student will be coming.
AFS does not want the parents to visit until the year is over and does not want the kids to go home for Christmas, say. They want the kids immersed in a U.S. high school experience for a year. They certainly don't discourage calling or emailing home once a week, but they discourage daily contact with home family and friends. Again, they want kids immersed in a U.S. high school experience for a year and not feeling overly involved with what they are missing at home.
Anyway, that's how it works when AFS kids come here. We have known kids who have gone away with AFS and had great experiences.
This four month weight loss sounds awful, and it sounds like something really unusual was going on there. I am surprised that AFS didn't catch this. Did you notice that the host family had never had an active teenage boy in the house before? "'The truth is, the boy we hosted for nearly six months was eating for an hour and a half at every meal. The amount of food he ate at each meal was equal to six people,' Hanna said. He added that the boy was active, constantly exercising and playing sports." A lot of us have seen active boys eat A LOT. It sounds like the family didn't get it, and no one did any serious intervening.
AFS kids who come to the US almost always gain weight, possibly because Americans tend to eat larger portions and snack more than people from other countries.

02-27-2008, 09:33 PM	#9
MidwestMom2Kids_ Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Threads: 102 Posts: 1,255	When an AFS kid comes here from another country, there are generally at least four adults watching them: The host parent(s). The liaison parent(s), like a surrogate aunt and uncle to help out. The local volunteer coordinator. The paid AFS staff member for the region. The host parents are with the student daily of course, but everyone else checks in with the student regularly. The parents of the foreign AFS kids may not hear where the kid is going until about a month before the kids arrive; sometimes it is not know until as short as a week before. The AFS host families are volunteers. Sometimes it is hard for the local volunteer coordinator to know where a student will be coming. AFS does not want the parents to visit until the year is over and does not want the kids to go home for Christmas, say. They want the kids immersed in a U.S. high school experience for a year. They certainly don't discourage calling or emailing home once a week, but they discourage daily contact with home family and friends. Again, they want kids immersed in a U.S. high school experience for a year and not feeling overly involved with what they are missing at home. Anyway, that's how it works when AFS kids come here. We have known kids who have gone away with AFS and had great experiences. This four month weight loss sounds awful, and it sounds like something really unusual was going on there. I am surprised that AFS didn't catch this. Did you notice that the host family had never had an active teenage boy in the house before? "'The truth is, the boy we hosted for nearly six months was eating for an hour and a half at every meal. The amount of food he ate at each meal was equal to six people,' Hanna said. He added that the boy was active, constantly exercising and playing sports." A lot of us have seen active boys eat A LOT. It sounds like the family didn't get it, and no one did any serious intervening. AFS kids who come to the US almost always gain weight, possibly because Americans tend to eat larger portions and snack more than people from other countries.