This chapter examines the complex emotions that surrounded the hiring and management of servants for childcare, focusing on American cultural discourse over the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. It begins by outlining the most commonly expressed concerns about the employment of Irish nurses and then considers the cultural judgment faced by mothers who relied on such immigrant women. The neglectful middle-class mother was a prominent figure in popular fiction of the period, to a point that the Irish servant could even be seen to provide a redeeming counterpoint. The chapter next turns to the relationships developed between Irish servants and the children of employing families. For those who spent their formative years in the care of a nurse, the connection could seem stronger than what they had with their biological parents. Finally, the chapter explores how servants themselves felt about their work. Many of the testimonies left by Irish immigrant women spoke to the pride they took in caring for others and feeling part of their employers’ families.