The Safety & Autonomy Standards™
A Structural Prevention Framework for Private-Home Employment
Developed by Brit M Ashe
The Safety & Autonomy Standards™ are not a code of conduct for individual caregivers. They are a governance framework for the systems, organizations, and employment relationships that shape private-home work
Private-home employment requires extraordinary trust.
Families entrust caregivers with their children. Caregivers enter private homes, often relocating, traveling, or living with employers. Agencies facilitate relationships that directly affect children’s wellbeing, worker safety, and family stability.Trust should not depend solely on goodwill, informal expectations, or personal sacrifice.
It requires transparent systems, reciprocal accountability, informed participation, and meaningful safeguards.
The Safety & Autonomy Standards™ establish a structural framework for creating safer, more transparent, and more accountable employment relationships in private homes.
Rather than responding only after harm has occurred, the framework identifies the structural conditions that reduce preventable harm before it happens.
Developed through years of professional experience across childcare, postpartum support, domestic employment, travel care, rotational positions, and high-profile households, the Standards are intended for agencies, employers, caregivers, educators, researchers, policymakers, and organizations working to strengthen the domestic employment profession.
Foundational Principles
The Safety & Autonomy Standards™ are guided by five structural principles.
What the Standards Address
The Safety & Autonomy Standards™ address recurring structural challenges throughout private-home employment, including:
Undefined job expectations and scope creep
Employment relationships without renewal or transition planning
Late pay, payroll misclassification, and financial instability
Unsafe trial periods and travel placements
Surveillance without disclosure
Lack of conflict resolution pathways
Absence of protected reporting mechanisms
Retaliation against workers who raise concerns
Child welfare concerns without structured escalation procedures
Agency abandonment during workplace disputes
Informal blacklisting and reputation-based retaliation
Unsafe exits from live-in and travel positions
Lack of transparency regarding hiring, placement, and evaluation processes
Information imbalance between workers, agencies, and families
Repeated patterns of harm across multiple placements
Most workplace harm is structural—not accidental.
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Employment relationships require informed participation by everyone involved.
The information requested from one party should be proportionate to the information provided by the others.
Workers deserve meaningful information about the positions they accept.
Families deserve accurate information about the professionals they hire.
Agencies should clearly communicate how representation, placement, and support operate.
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Workers cannot meaningfully consent to employment when critical information about the role, workplace, or employment relationship is unavailable.
Safe employment begins with informed decision-making.
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Workers should understand the processes governing decisions that affect their employment.
Clear procedures build trust, reduce uncertainty, and strengthen accountability.
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Safe workplaces are created through shared responsibility among caregivers, families, agencies, and the broader domestic employment industry.
No single party should bear sole responsibility for preventing systemic failures.
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The Standards are designed to prevent foreseeable harm rather than simply respond after harm has occurred.
Strong systems create safer workplaces.
Framework Overview
The Standards are organized around the lifecycle of a domestic employment relationship.
I. Informed Entry & Placement Integrity
1. Reciprocal Transparency
Employment should begin with meaningful information exchange among workers, families, and agencies.
2. Candidate Evaluation Transparency
Agencies should clearly communicate how candidates are evaluated, represented, and matched with families.
3. Family Workplace Disclosure
Families should disclose material workplace conditions affecting safety, expectations, and informed employment decisions before placement.
4. Agency Representation Integrity
Agencies should clearly define their responsibilities before, during, and after placement, including the support they provide if workplace concerns arise.
5. Family Vetting Must Assess Risk, Not Wealth
Families should be evaluated based on employment practices, household operations, and prior caregiver experiences—not solely financial capacity.
6. Contracts Must Exist Before Arrival
No labor should begin without a fully executed agreement outlining responsibilities, compensation, expectations, and protections.
7. Payroll, Tax Education & Timely Pay
Workers and families should enter employment with a clear understanding of payroll obligations, tax classification, payment schedules, and legal responsibilities.
8. Language & Legal Translation Access
Workers should have meaningful access to agreements, policies, and employment information in a language they understand.
9. Pregnancy, Surrogacy & Newborn Disclosure
Material changes affecting workload or scope of work should be disclosed before placement and renegotiated when necessary.
II. Employment Structure & Scope Protection
10. Defined-Term Employment, Renewal & Transition Planning
Domestic employment should operate within clearly defined terms, with structured opportunities for renewal, extension, or transition.
11. Scope Expansion, Renegotiation & Consent
Job responsibilities should not expand through assumption, pressure, or fear of job loss. Significant changes require discussion, documentation, and consent.
12. Surveillance Limits & Transparency
Monitoring practices should be disclosed, documented, and limited to appropriate purposes.
13. ROTA Role Enforcement
Rotational schedules should be respected, enforceable, and appropriately compensated when altered.
14. Trial Periods & Travel Protections
Travel assignments and trial placements require additional safeguards due to increased vulnerability and isolation.
III. Workplace Safety, Voice & Problem Resolution
15. Crisis Access Must Be Safe to Use
Workers should have access to confidential reporting pathways without fear of retaliation.
16. Professional Concern, Child Welfare & Escalation Protections
Caregivers should be able to raise concerns regarding child wellbeing, household safety, and workplace conditions through protected and documented channels.
17. Conflict Resolution & Relationship Maintenance
Employment relationships should include structured pathways for addressing concerns before they escalate into termination.
18. Independent Advocacy Access
Workers should have access to advocacy and support systems that are not financially dependent upon placement outcomes.
IV. Pattern Recognition & System Accountability
19. Pattern Tracking Across Placements
Agencies should identify and respond to recurring issues across multiple placements and workers.
20. Limits on Cross-Agency Communication
Information sharing should require consent, documentation, accountability, and legitimate professional purpose.
21. Cultural & Power Awareness
Hiring and workplace practices should actively reduce bias, exclusion, and inequitable treatment while recognizing the power dynamics inherent in private-home employment.
V. Safe Exit & Transition
22. Safe Exit Protections
Workers should be able to leave employment without unnecessary financial, housing, safety, or reputational harm.
VI. Enforcement & Oversight
23. Agency Accountability & Consequences
Standards require meaningful accountability.
Policies without enforcement do not create safety.
How the Standards Work
Each Standard contains three implementation components:
Purpose
Why the Standard exists and the structural risk it is designed to address.
Criteria
The conditions required to satisfy the Standard.
Measurable Indicators
Objective measures used to evaluate implementation and accountability.
Examples include:
Signed contracts before employment begins
Payroll systems established before the first day of work
Candidate evaluation policies
Family workplace disclosures
Surveillance disclosures
Renewal and transition timelines
Protected reporting pathways
Conflict resolution procedures
Scope-of-work documentation
Safe exit planning
Pattern tracking across placements
The goal is not simply to identify best practices.
It is to create measurable systems that reduce preventable harm while strengthening trust, accountability, and professionalism across the domestic employment industry.
Current Stage of Development
The Safety & Autonomy Standards™ are an evolving framework informed by professional experience, ongoing research, industry observation, and interdisciplinary dialogue.
As additional evidence, perspectives, and implementation experience emerge, the framework will continue to develop.
The goal is not to prescribe a single way of working, but to establish structural principles that improve safety, transparency, and accountability for everyone participating in private-home employment.
Intended Applications
The Standards are designed to support:
Domestic staffing agencies
Household employers
Nannies and domestic workers
Professional associations
Training and certification programs
Workforce development initiatives
Researchers and academic institutions
Labor and workplace organizations
Policy development
Conferences and industry education
Organizational consulting
About the Framework
The Safety & Autonomy Standards™ were developed by Brit M. Ashe through direct experience across childcare, postpartum support, domestic employment, travel care, rotational employment, and private-home workplaces.
The framework reflects an ongoing commitment to documenting structural patterns, strengthening professional practice, and improving accountability throughout domestic employment.
Its guiding principle is simple:
Caregivers should never be required to sacrifice their safety, autonomy, professional integrity, or livelihood in order to provide care.
Collaborate
The Safety & Autonomy Standards™ are intended to evolve through thoughtful research, professional dialogue, pilot implementation, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
I welcome inquiries from individuals and organizations interested in applying, evaluating, researching, or strengthening the framework.
Examples include:
Domestic staffing agencies
Household employers
Professional associations
Researchers and academic institutions
Labor and workplace organizations
Conference organizers
Training providers
Policymakers
Childcare and domestic work advocates
At this stage, I am particularly interested in conversations focused on implementation, research, education, organizational partnerships, and improving structural accountability within private-home employment.
If you’re reaching out, please include a brief introduction, your organization (if applicable), and how you envision using or contributing to the Standards. This helps ensure our conversations are purposeful and productive.
For collaboration, speaking engagements, research partnerships, implementation inquiries, or organizational discussions: