Contact families
Refer to pages 17-18 in the Program Policies.
Contact families are local Swedish families who volunteer to be matched with one or two Swedish Program students. Your decision to have a contact family is a serious commitment. Our contact families are motivated by their desire for a rewarding intercultural experience, and we expect students will have the same motivation.
We expect students to take the lead in making plans, and to meet with their families 3 to 6 times over the semester. Schedules vary, but as a guideline, please anticipate that meeting your contact family would take approximately 4-8 hours every other week. As with our host families, commute times vary but can take between 35 and 70 minutes. It is typically easier to arrange activities together over the weekend than during the work/school week. In fairness to our contact families, if you plan on traveling 2 weekends or more per month, we advise against making this commitment.
Students who request a contact family will be invited to participate in a brief video interview with our Program Manager in Stockholm. The purpose of the interview is to ensure that your expectations align with ours and to help our team get a better sense of your personality and interests to assist in the matching process. You will also be asked to complete a brief questionnaire and write a 200-300 word introduction to your future contact family.
Please note: Though we conduct an extensive search and make every effort to find contact families we cannot guarantee a match as the number of available contact families varies each semester. Students who register early and indicate their desire to have a contact family will be given priority in the matching process.