Children have a say  

Children have the right to be listened to and to participate in all the decisions affecting them. This is what the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says. Read how SOS Children's Villages supports child participation and what the children have to say to us.

Photo: Philip Jacob

An SOS from SOS Children's Villages France

On 19 November 2009, 200 schoolchildren from Paris sent out a strong message against the silence that often envelops the subject of children's rights. More...
Photo: SOS Archives

"I Can Change the World... if the world listens to me!"

In October 2009, SOS Children's Village Manila hosted a first-of-its-kind 'Children Congress' to produce The State of the Filipino Children's Report. 119 young individuals, from SOS Children's Villages, schools, parishes, communities and organizations in the Philippines met for a two-day dialogue. More...
Photo: Hilary Atkins

Somalia: Children's rights mean a good shelter when battle erupts

The children of Mogadishu may be some of the most deprived children in the world having lived all their lifetimes through war. Nevertheless, children at the SOS Children's Village are still aware of children's rights (November 2009). More...
Photo: Naomi Njeri

Celebrating the rights of the child at SOS Children's Village Mombasa

Dorcas lives at SOS Children's Village Mombasa in Kenya and takes the issue of children's rights very seriously (November 2009). More...
Photo: © Council of Europe

Children and young people in care: What do YOUth think?

When it comes to making lasting changes in people's lives, the written word just isn't enough. It takes action to put policy into practise. From 6th to 9th of December 2008, young people from across Europe and Central Asia came together to help SOS-Kinderdorf International and the Council of Europe (CoE) do just that. More...
Photo: Benno Neeleman

Peace Project Caldonazzo: handicrafts and drums for peace

"What does peace mean to me?" This was the question the "Peace Project Caldonazzo" aimed to get children and young people who have taken a considerable share in organising this project to answer. More...

Success for Quality4Children: Adoption of Q4C Standards in Malta

31/03/2008 - Another success for the Quality4Children Standards: The Maltese Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity has used the Q4C Standards as a basis for their "National Standards for Residential Child Care" which were launched for consultation in February. More...
Children and research: Conference 'Researching children'

Children and research: "Researching children"

SOS Children's Villages has already taken part in organising the conference "Researching Children" twice (in Norwich/UK in 2006 and in Innsbruck/Austria in 2007). The goal of the conference was to set up a permanent team on the subject of "Research for and with Children". More...

"Quality4Children": Quality Standards for Out-of-Home Child Care in Europe

With their project "Quality4Children" three big international organizations in the field of out-of-home child care, have set up an initiative: To assure and improve the development chances of hundreds of thousands of children and youths in Europe, who can not grow up with their biological families. Apart from SOS Children's Villages, IFCO and FICE numerous youths played a decisive role in developing and realizing the project. More...

Listening to children: a study

"Show us your respect, protect us and let us have a say!" is one of the desires children in the SOS Children's Villages expressed in the framework of the study "Listening to children". Read about their fears, dreams and hopes in this summary: More...