Usa-Spain student exchange of gluten intolerant kids

[Jose Manuel]

Hello,

First of all, I want to send greetings from Spain and introduce myself. My name is Jose Manuel and I live in Tres Cantos, a nice city 14 miles north of Madrid. My wife is Eva and our three children are: Dario who is 17 years old, Pablo who is 14 years old, and was diagnosed gluten intolerant 12 years ago, and Jaime, 11 years old, and also diagnosed gluten intolerant 2 years ago.

After the introduction, I would like to share the following proposal for those families of this forum who think it would be interesting to make a student exchange.

Every family with a gluten intolerant member knows all the problems that arise finding gluten free diet when we leave home, or when we go out abroad even more so if we go out to a foreign country. We want our son Pablo to study in the USA for the next school year (2016-2017) and we have thought of a student exchange with a family with a gluten intolerant child. That way, our son will live in a celiac aware environment. We would likewise take care of an American gluten intolerant child, whose family is interested in that exchange.

Thanks for your attention. I am at your disposal for any question and those families who want to talk about that proposal and would like further information, can contact us at our email address: Open Original Shared Link

 

Greetings from Spain.

Jose Manuel Garcia Mulas

[kareng]

Personally, I would go with one of the established groups. i wouldn't send my teen to a foreign country by himself to stay with strangers I met on the Internet.  At least with the established groups, they do some background checks and give the child someone to call for help if there are issues with the host family.  

[cyclinglady]

We have hosted kids from Germany and Japan.  I would strongly recommend going through an established student-exchange group.  They screen families for criminal records, etc.  They also cover health and liability insurance.  They work with the high schools as well.  And like Karen said, if it does not work out, the group steps in and resolves the situation.   It is a great experience but you want to make sure your child is safe (and not just safe from gluten).  

The forum has had specific requests from student exchange groups about placing celiac kids into a celiac family in the past.    So we are a resource for then xchange groups.  It is possible for them to find a perfect match!  

Here  is a link to a US government website that mentions some of the top organizations.

Open Original Shared Link

Good Luck! 

[Jose Manuel]

Thank you for your answers and advice.

My purpose is to get in touch with a family interested in hosting my son, while at the same time, we would host theirs. That way, there shouldn’t be any problem. The first thing, of course, would be for the two families to meet and iron out the fine points.

I know that to send my son with an agency would be less problematic. I have already asked for information, but this procedure costs a lot more than I cannot afford: somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 euros. And with my proposal of exchange, the cost would be much lower, basically the student visa charge, the plane tickets and health insurance.

 

Greetings,

[mommida]

Have you looked into 4H student exchange?  4H works with colleges and universities extension.  It is more common for farming communities to be involved with, and does not as much as other organizations.

Good luck.