Short and middle-term care
 |
| Babies and small children are also taken into the transition home in Pristina/Kosovo - Photo: K. Ilievska |
There are various forms of special therapeutic care in countries and territories such as Austria, Korea, Mexico, Hungary, Poland, Ecuador and Kosovo: post-crisis care, assisted living for children at risk, centres for children with special needs and transition homes. When it is in the children's best interests that they temporarily do not live with their family or when children have to be taken from their families because of an urgent situation, they live in these homes on a short- or long-term basis. During this problematic time they are helped along by the fact that they know that it is only a temporary arrangement. The care generally lasts for up to two years. A special emphasis is placed on the continuous and extensive psychosocial and therapeutic work with the children and their families. The aim is to ensure that the basic conditions required for the children's wellbeing within their biological families are met so as to send the children back to their biological families. If this proves to be impossible, we look for another suitable place for them to live.
 |
| Comprehensive care in Khajuri Kalan, India - Photo: SOS Archives |
Projects for children with special needs
A number of facilities provide special support, rehabilitation and therapy for children with physical and mental disabilities. The best care possible is provided for children and young people through targeted support (physiotherapy, ergotherapy, logotherapy, occupational therapy, workshops for children with disabilities and agricultural projects). Projects such as these exist in India, Nepal, Nepal, Honduras, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Mexico, Germany, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Morocco.
 |
| The "Franz-Staufer-Hof" in Austria is both a living community and a work project - Photo: SOS Archives |
Educational therapeutic facilities
These projects, which are aimed at teenagers and young adults, just exist in Austria and Germany, where SOS Children's Villages' educational work is very diverse. These facilities house young people who are at risk or are hindered in their self-development or socialisation and require particularly intensive care. The aim is to gradually integrate these young people into society. The carers set individual goals with the young people. They encourage them to be independent, take responsibility, make use of their skills and enter the working world. The target groups are young people of both sexes, who do not yet meet the prerequisites for an educational course or particular form of employment. They are accepted for various reasons: they may have social or mental problems, have not been able to complete their schooling, or are below average in terms of intellectual aptitude, and therefore do not have good prospects for finding work.