NYC parents who needed a nanny who speaks your home language: how did you find them?
My wife left Ukraine right after the Soviet Union fell apart, so she speaks Russian at home. When we started looking for a nanny, we specifically wanted someone who could speak Russian with our kids. That search was brutal. Agencies didn't really understand what we were looking for. Facebook groups moved too fast and the good recommendations were gone by the next day. There was no real way to filter by language or cultural background on any of the platforms we tried.
We eventually found someone, but it took months and felt way harder than it should have been.
I'm curious how other NYC parents handled this, especially families where English isn't the only language at home. Did you find someone who speaks your language? How did you actually find them? Was it word of mouth, an agency, a group chat, something else? And how important was the cultural piece beyond just language, things like food, holidays, parenting style?
Would love to hear what worked and what didn't. NYC has families speaking hundreds of languages and it feels like none of the tools out there are built for that reality.