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BLACK FAMILIES SNUBBED BY NANNIES: Report says nannies of all races generally prefer to work in non-African American homes.
*If it’s not one setback it’s another. As African Americans continue to climb the socioeconomic ladder, there are still unforeseen barriers to overcome.
African American professionals in need of nannies are finding it difficult to secure them, due to sweeping generalizations about the black race, reports the New York Times.
Agencies that provide the services of nannies are reporting that those of various races they represent -- black and Caribbean nannies included – are more and more requesting to be passed over for assignments in black households.
The perception is that low wages, dangerous neighborhoods, and excessive duties, to name a few, are synonymous with black employers.
"We've attained whatever level society says is successful, we're included at work, but when we need the support for our children and we can afford it, why do we get treated this way?" asked Tanisha Jackson, an African-American mother of three in a Washington suburb, who searched on and off for five years before hiring a nanny. "It's a slap in the face."
While there are many successful black family/nanny relationships to report, interviews with dozens of nannies and agencies that employ them in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Houston turned up many nannies who avoid working for families of those backgrounds.
The result is that many black parents do not have the same child care options as their colleagues and neighbors. They must rely upon illegal immigrants or non-English speakers instead of more experienced or credentialed nannies, rely on day care or scale back their professional aspirations to spend more time at home.
"Very rarely will an African-American woman work for an African-American boss," said Pat Cascio, the owner of Morningside Nannies in Houston and the president of the International Nanny Association.
Many of the African-American nannies who make up 40 percent of her work force fear that people of their own color will be "uppity and demanding," said Ms. Cascio, who is white. After interviews, she said, those nannies "will call us and say, 'Why didn't you tell me'" the family is black?
In several cities, nanny agencies decline to serve certain geographic areas - not because of redlining, these agencies say, but because the nannies, who decide which jobs to take, do not want to work there.
Agencies represent only a small slice of nannies; most work through informal arrangements, further out of reach of civil rights and labor laws. (Because so many nannies are illegal, no one can say with certainty how many work in this country, let alone work for black families.)
Viola Waszkiewicz, a white sitter in Chicago, has cared for black children, but explained that many fellow Eastern European nannies would not.
"We come here, and we watch TV and the news, and all we see is black people who got hurt, got murdered," she said. Most of the nannies she knows "think all black people are bad," she said. "They're afraid to go to black neighborhoods." Pamela Potischman, a social worker in Brooklyn who specializes in parent-nanny relationships, said, "You rely on what's familiar, so you're going to rely on these vast generalizations to be self-protective." She added, "The nannies talk, and they say, 'This is what's O.K. and what to watch out for.'"
