In institutional care, like orphanages or large group homes, children face caregiver-to-child ratios as high as 31:1.  

This deprives children of the one-on-one connection they need for healthy cognitive, physical and emotional development and increases the chances they experience abuse or neglect. 

Plus, institutional care often separates sibling, compounding trauma for children who have already lost their parents. 

That’s why, at SOS Children’s Villages, we provide individualized, trauma-informed care in family-like homes where siblings remain together.  

An SOS Mother nurtures children in a family-like home environment and provides all the resources children need to thrive—like healthy food, quality medical care, education and the deep emotional attachments research shows is crucial to children’s long-term health and success. 

An innovative, family-based model, an SOS Village ensures children grow up in a loving, stable home.  

Instead of the clinical approach of institutional care or the dormitories of large group homes, an SOS Village ensures children:  

• Grow up in a family home with a dedicated, trauma-informed trained caregiver who delivers the continuous, loving care they need for a happy, healthy childhood.  

• Remain with their siblings, preserving vital family bonds and preventing further trauma. 

• Grow up in a supportive neighborhood (“village”) with access to professional healthcare, quality education and community activities, fostering a sense of belonging that research shows is critical in healing from trauma and building resilience. 

Trauma-informed care recognizes the life-changing impact of trauma and creates the safe, supportive and empowering environments individuals need to recover. 

SOS Children’s Villages professional, trained staff implements trauma-informed care throughout our programs by recognizing trauma responses, creating safe spaces, equipping individuals and building resilience. 

Trauma-informed care is vital for children who have experienced trauma.  

Research shows that trauma-informed care helps children improve academically, build stronger relationships and develop better long-term physical, emotional and mental health.  

And when children grow into healthy adults, they build resilient communities and pass down the same loving care they received to their own children—breaking cycles of abuse, intergenerational trauma and family separation! 

Children face unimaginable challenges in times of crisis—extreme distress, disrupted education, life-threatening injuries and family separation. 

Emergencies also increase risks of abuse, forced recruitment, labor, sex trafficking or other forms of exploitation. 

That’s why our emergency response is built around comprehensive child protection.  

SOS protects children in emergencies by delivering:   

• Urgent, life-saving necessities like medicine, shelter, clothing, nutritious food and clean water. 

• Trauma-informed care that helps children process trauma, develop healthy coping skills and build resilience. 

• Child-friendly spaces where children can learn and play while protected from abuse and exploitation.  

• Safe, loving homes for children who have lost parental care. 

• Family tracing services, where dedicated SOS staff work to locate and reunite children with their families, if possible. 

Family strengthening is an evidence-based program designed to prevent family separation by:  

• Strengthening a parent’s ability to provide for their children’s basic and emotional needs. 

• Promoting healthy child development through parental education and support. 

• Reducing the likelihood of child abuse and neglect through preventative trainings and positive parenting education. 

Family separation is a traumatic experience for a child, and it puts children in danger of abuse, abandonment and exploitation.  

Through holistic family strengthening programs, SOS delivers the training, guidance and resources families need to stay together and provide quality care and bright futures for their children.