Au pair contracts cap work at 30 hours per week, and allow for one-and-a-half days off. Au pairs are to receive €280 ($304) in expenses each month and an additional €70 to put toward German language courses.

These rules are often ignored, au pair advocates say — a thorn in the side of aboveboard au pair agencies.

“Our agencies always insist that the focus of working hours is on child care and that chores be done along with the family,” Cordula Walter-Bolhöfer, who works at Gütegemeinschaft Au Pair, an umbrella organization representing 30 of Germany’s 100 au pair agencies.

“Au pairs are not supposed to be cheap household helpers,” she added.

Lack of oversight

One source of exploitation is the lack of licensing. Since 2002, au pair agencies have only needed a business license to operate, with no additional certification. Other would-be au pairs get connected to host families over social media or so-called “matching” platforms where there is little control.

“When they see photos of nice families with nice children on Facebook, for example, many believe that this is the truth,” said Walter-Bolhöfer.

When problems arise in these cases, au pairs have no contact person. That’s when someone like Susanne Flegel steps in. She has been running an agency for more than 17 years and helps au pairs in trouble.

“There was a time when we had several calls a day. Politicians claim that these are isolated cases. But they are not isolated cases,” she told DW. “When we ask various au pairs, they say exploitation is common.”<

I’m not really surprised about the lack of regulation. The au pairs aren’t voters and don’t have a lobby behind them. On the other hand there’s people who don’t mind exploiting others. And there’s need for help and cheap labour.