SOS India: A New Life, A New Beginning, A New Hope
Children are as responsive to love and care as plants are to water and sunlight. Raising a child is similar to nurturing a little sapping. A child like a fledging sapling must be sown in a fertile bed, assured of the security and love provided by a family. Nourishment provide by the SOS mother and a loving environment helps the child, much like the seedling, bloom into an intelligent and ideal citizen. At SOS India, we believe that all children are like plants, each unique in their beauty and strength. Our aim is to help them realize their full potential.
From the beginning, SOS India, one of the best NGO in India has been involved in providing children in need of care and protection a home-like environment to grow up among brothers and sisters, nurtured by a mother, through its Family Like Care (FLC) Programme. The organization also bought everything the children needed. These were toys, teaching materials and clothes. SOS India also reaches out to children at risk of falling out of the safety net of familial care and protection through Family Strengthening Programme (FSP). FSP uses a two-pronged approach, empowering the caregivers, especially women, through enhancement of their income and simultaneously, providing health and educational support to their children.
A journey towards Family Like Care
It is widely understood that a stable, nurturing environment lays the foundation for a child’s healthy development. Unfortunately, not every child has this advantage.
SOS Family Like Care (FLC) provides a loving home to parentless and abandoned children to grow up within the stability and security of a family, and a supportive community. Children grow up together as brothers and sisters under the care of an SOS Mother – helping create an everlasting bond of togetherness. Children are provided holistic care and opportunities that empower their future and ensure successful mainstreaming into the society.
Nothing can replaces a mother’s love. Every child years for it. Only a mother transforms a house into a home full of love and affection. Under this approach children are brought to SOS Children’s Villages and looked after by an SOS mother who provides the same affection and care like a mother provides to her own children. She fives the child a family like environment which helps in the overall growth of the child and helps them to recognize their potential. There are many such families in the village campus each one being looked after by an SOS mother. In each family there are 8-10 children who bond with each other as siblings. In order to make sure each child get the right amount of attention they deserve, there is a limit to the number of children per family.
The Village Director who is the head of the Children’s Village, is the father figure here. He fulfills the administrative duties and responsibilities and also assists the SOS mothers in nurturing the children in the best way possible. He along with his co-workers makes sure that all administration is smooth and also, takes care of all the needs of the entire SOS community.
In this secured and happy environment, the children grow without any worries and are shaped into contributing citizens. Children are nourished, nurtured and educated in the community/schools/vocational institutes/professional colleges etc. till the age of 24 years when they are able to support themselves on their own. Till then all their needs, emotionally as well as financially are taken care of by SOS Children’s Villages of India.
We not only nurture the children but also help them grow into fruitful citizens of the country. Providing these children with a better tomorrow is the ultimate aim of SOS Children’s Villages of India. Hence, we continuously look after these children’s needs and help them gain their confidence to realise their dreams and be a part of the society.
