Governing standards regarding contact

From AFSWiki

CSIET standards regarding contact

• Local representatives of the organization shall maintain regular personal contact with participants and host families.
• Contact should be initiated by the organization's representative at least once a month be it by telephone, a visit to the home, personal contact at a gathering or other means.
• E-mail alone is not considered sufficient personal contact.
• Regular monthly contact is to include separate communication with the participant and the host family in order to provide each with the opportunity to discuss issues they might not raise in the presence of the other.
• CSIET expects that there be formal documentation of this contact such as a monthly form, written journal, written log, etc.
  • This is not to imply that representatives have to record every interaction. Rather it is to provide a record for the organization’s office of the pattern of participant and host family adjustments, activities, and relationships through at least monthly contact with each participant and host family.)
• For programs involving school enrollment, the organization shall maintain regular communication with school authorities.
• See Standard 7 (pg. 3) of the April 2006 revision of the CSIET standards (PDF).

Department of State regulation regarding regular contact

Sponsors (organizations such as AFS) shall ensure that all officers, employees, agents, and volunteers acting on their behalf maintain a regular schedule of personal contact with the participant and host family, and ensure that the school has contact information for the local organizational representative and U.S. offices of the sponsor.

• See the US Code of Federal Regulations
  • Exchange Visitor Programs, Secondary School Students: 22 CFR 62.25 (d)(4) (PDF).
  • All aspects of the Exchange Visitor Program: 22 CFR 514.10 (e) (TXT).