Tina Lazarus worked as a language teacher and translator for nearly ten years before setting up Safe and Sound with Roma Felstein. She lives in London with her husband and two children.
Roma Felstein trained as a social worker in the late seventies and worked in both London and the USA. She worked closely with the local authority Family Service Unit helping families with difficulties and trying to stop children being taken into care. She has been a journalist, television and radio producer for the BBC for the past fifteen years. She lives in London with her husband and three children.
Tina & Roma met three years ago and it was during a conversation about the problems they felt au pairs encountered when they arrived in the UK, that they decided to set up Safe & Sound. They had both had considerable experience with childcare and Safe and Sound was born out of a deep concern that au pairs, in particular, were arriving in the UK with either very little or no experience of childcare, and yet were often left in sole charge of young children for many hours. They wanted to give au pairs a basic training in accident prevention and first aid, so that if the child in their care had an accident, whether it is a minor or major one, they would know what to do. They soon realised that for linguistic reasons many au pairs would find it very difficult to cope with the average first aid course on offer to native English speakers. In response to this, they created glossaries and pre-course language material so that the au pairs could prepare themselves before the course. They consul
It wasn’t long before parents started enquiring about courses for themselves, which is why Safe & Sound has expanded and now offer courses to anybody who looks after children: nannies, parents, grandparents, babysitters, elder siblings. They also run courses for nurseries and youth clubs.
