When it comes to children’s rights, children in fragile families or in alternative care are particularly vulnerable. SOS works with communities and decision makers to raise awareness about children’s rights and to ensure that children’s rights are protected. SOS also works with other development agencies and with governments to advance initiatives that help children and families, and makes sure that children without parental care are counted and that their needs are considered in the policies and programs that affect them.

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

During our recent strategy development process, SOS Children’s Villages set up a youth coalition to ensure young people were involved in defining the organization’s strategy, which will guide our work throughout the next decade. Participants from 10 countries – Albania, Cambodia, Estonia, Finland, India, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Nicaragua, Peru and Rwanda – held workshops with their peers to ensure their voices were heard during the strategy development process. As a result, our Strategy 2030 encompasses their needs and perspectives, helping us give all young people in SOS Children’s Villages’ programs a strong foundation for a successful, independent life.

EASING THE TRANSITION FOR ITALY’S YOUTH

In 2018, Italy’s government established a fund for young people transitioning out of alternative care. SOS Children’s Villages Italy contributed to this positive development, advocating for and with young care leavers and providing results of a national study mapping the challenges faced by young people leaving alternative care situations.

With 75 years of experience, SOS plays a lead role in articulating and advocating for policies, practices and programs that benefit at-risk families and children who have lost parental care.

To ensure quality care for all children, SOS promotes standards for parental and alternative care (including the United Nations Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children), develops additional standards and guidelines for care and trains parents and professional caregivers on providing the best, most suitable care for the children.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Young people play a vital role in shaping the future, but they need a seat at the table. SOS gives them the opportunity to speak out and communicate with decision makers and policy developers, and encourages them to be active participants in the decisions affecting their lives.

YOUNG PEOPLE SPEAKING OUT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

In June 2017, SOS Children’s Villages Chile and other NGOs organized a youth forum at the Chilean Congress. More than 100 young people were considered for the role of youth ambassador, and a young man named Franco, who grew up with SOS, was selected to represent Chilean young people at a high-level political forum at the United Nations in New York.

At the forum, Franco appealed for development and social policies to take into consideration the needs and aspirations of young people, with a focus on equal opportunities for all to help break the cycle of poverty and exclusion so that future generations can be active and equal participants in society.

He stressed the need for there to be greater awareness of the plight faced by those growing up with foster parents or in alternative care, having been separated from their families.

“Parents need to be given support so that they can support their children and prevent suffering and separation. It is cyclical. If the parents suffer, the children suffer too. If we resolve this problem we can resolve it for future generations.”

EXTENDING CARE

In January 2017, the United Nations Economic and Social Council Youth Forum brought together young people and youth-focused organizations in New York to engage with policymakers in a dialogue about global challenges.

Yasmina, 19, who grew up in an SOS Children’s Village in Spain, represented SOS. Yasmina highlighted how difficult it was to become independent with limited economic resources and how important it is that governmental support for young people leaving care be extended after the age of 18. She also described the value of enabling siblings to grow up together, even when children cannot live with their parents anymore.

“Emotional support is more important than anything else for a child in care,” she said. “Luckily, I have been able to live and grow up with my younger sister.”