SOS Children's Villages revolve around the effort to give children who have lost their parents or who are no longer able to live with them a permanent home and a stable environment. The SOS Children's Village family-like structure is formed by four basic principles: mother, brothers and sisters, house and village.

Each child is given a so-called SOS mother. She is the main person who cares for this child and is a substitute for the child's natural parents. She lives in a house together with the children that she is looking after. Together with them she organises the family's daily life. She creates strong and dependable relationships and gives the children a safe and loving home. The job of an SOS Children's Village Mother is usually carried out by single women who have to complete an extensive training programme. They are supported in their highly responsible task by educational co-workers as well as by women who are still training to be SOS Children's Village mothers.

Girls and boys of differing ages grow up together in an SOS Children's Village family like brothers and sisters. Natural brothers and sisters are not separated. Children are accepted from small babies until the age of ten unless there are brothers and sisters involved, in which case the children could be older.

Every family has a house of its own. Each house has a combined living/dining room as the centre of social life. The familiar atmosphere of a home of their own encourages bonding within the families and is another important piece in the "mosaic" SOS Children's Village to give the children a feeling of belonging and shelter.

On average an SOS Children's Village has between ten and fifteen family houses. The village provides the background for an extended family community. This supplies the children with cultural roots and gives them a feeling of belonging. At the same time, village life is an important bridge to the local community. The SOS Children's Village should be an open place which not only promotes the integration of the SOS Children's Village children into the local district but also supports interaction and encounters with neighbouring communities.

Special emphasis is placed on giving the children a thorough preparation for life on their own afterwards. This is in order that the children can be integrated into their local community and opens job opportunities for them. Those facilities which follow the SOS Children's Village in the chain of care and support are therefore of utmost importance. Youth facilities, vocational training centres and schools belong to this group of secondary facilities.

Beyond that there are also other types of facilities and aid programmes whose main intention it is to improve living conditions for families in the neighbourhood on a long-term basis. The social centres, kindergartens, medical centres, training centres and schools are not only used by children and youths from the SOS Children's Village but are also there for the general public. The emphasis lies in providing further education, a basic medical service and in improving the social conditions in the long-term. SOS Children's Villages tries to help during acute times of need, such as natural disasters or conflicts, by putting rapid and unbureaucratic emergency relief programmes into action. These are especially aimed at providing children, women and families with urgently needed support.

© SOS-Kinderdorf International