Homestay Families

List of 3 items.

• Expectations & Stipend

  Host families are expected to provide their international student with transportation to and from school, meals, and a caring environment that would essentially feel like a student’s “second home” away from their home country. Host families are paid a monthly stipend for each month of the contracted ten months of hosting. This stipend is meant to help offset the cost of having an additional person in your household and to thank you for opening up your home to our international students.

   

• Application and Matching Process

  If interested, host families should submit an application profile. Following the completion of an application, families will be contacted for a home visit and interview.

  
  

  If invited to continue through the application process, all family members over the age of 18 must submit a background check and attend an Archdiocesan Safe Environment class (paid for by BBHS). Families will then be offered a 10-month contract and placed on the homestay roster.

  
  

  Families who are offered contracts are not guaranteed an immediate match, as this depends on the students in need of a home and what the best possible match is for each student and family. Your placement on the homestay roster qualifies you as a ready match for immediate availability.The matching process generally happens in late spring/early summer, and as needed throughout the school year.

   

• Additional Information

  While it would be our hope that the student and host family would want to continue living together each school year until graduation, there is no obligation or assumption that either party must continue the same living arrangement each year; an agreement would need to be made by both parties at the end of each school year.
  
  Resources and opportunities to connect with the BBHS International Homestay Community would be offered throughout the school year, and families would be strongly encouraged to participate as they are able. Among those resources include a Homestay Family Orientation in August and an active private Facebook group page for regular updates amongst host parents. Ongoing support is always available through the Director of International Programs.

  
  Thank you for your interest in BBHS’s International Homestay Program. We hope you and your family will consider the positive mutual benefits of hosting an international student in your home. If you have any questions or are interested in applying to be a BBHS Host Family, please contact Director of International Student Services, Janah Valenzuela at jvalenzuela@bishopblanchet.org or 205-527-7718.