Frequently Asked Question

It actually exists...

A fact that the operators themselves were probably surprised by.
In 2022, as part of our own quality management, we audited the so-called "emergency hotline for au pairs", called there and reported an 'emergency'.

The content of the emergency was authentic and a classic case of exploitation. A young woman from an African country had found and organized her au pair position on the Internet on her own.
With her host family, she had to live under almost undignified conditions and do work that was not appropriate for an au pair. In order to prevent her from attending the language course and to keep her available during this time, obstacle after obstacle was put in her way.
The entire au pair relationship was one big violation of the au pair contract itself, of all legal requirements and guidelines.

On the other end of the line came a surprised female voice, who probably hadn't expected the dusty phone in the corner to ring. After the lady had received the description of the emergency, she explained that she would pass the case on and someone would call back.

The next day, another au pair agency called back, who was inadequately or not at all informed about the nature of the emergency.
The repeated description of the case met with little interest. Instead of providing help for the problem presented, they talked some mushy nonsense about how tragic it was and how little could be done...
Then they repeated a little advertising slogan about regional partner agencies and left the au pair to deal with their own problems.

This was the tremendous help of the "Emergency Hotline for Au Pairs"!