About SOS Children's

Villages of India
SOS Children's Villages of India is an independent, non-governmental, social development
organisation that provides family-based care for parentless or abandoned children in India.
The organization is over 50 years old in India and it advocates the concerns, rights and
needs of children in need of care and protection.

Children playing at an SOS Children's Village

At SOS Childrens Villages of India, we are committed to the welfare of children - often
throughout the whole of their childhood - and to strengthening families and communities as a
preventive measure in the fight against abandonment and social neglect.
The organizations work is based on the following four pillars:
The Mother: Every child has a caring parent, Brothers and Sisters: Every child has family ties
and he or she grows up with a sense of responsibility and a spirit of sharing, The House: A place
where the child feels secure and has a sense of belonging, and The Village: A community that
surrounds the child, so that every child has roots.

One of the most unique features of SOS Children's Villages is the home-like environment and
the long-term support given to every SOS child up to 24 years of age.
OUR FLAGSHIP PROGRAMMES:
There are two flagship programmes that form the core of the organization. The first being
theFAMILY BASED CARE (FBC), a curative program of SOS Childrens Villages of India,
that reaches out to over 6500 girls and boys in 32 childrens villages across India.
Each village has 12 -15 Family Homes, with every home consisting of 10 children on an average
along with an SOS mother. All round development including education, nutrition, health and
psychological development is taken care of till the children are settled in their lives.
In addition to the Childrens Villages that form the core of SOS Childrens Villages of Indias
work, the organization runs a whole gamut of programmes and facilities in support of socially
disadvantaged and impoverished families to help them lead a decent life in the long-term. Family
Strengthening Program (FSP) is one such programme which aims to support families and
communities to develop their capacity to effectively protect and care for their children, so that
children are able to grow within a caring family environment and are prevented from being
abandoned.
FAMILY STRENGTHENING PROGRAMME or FSP is a preventive community
intervention program that covers over 17000 children at 32 locations across India. Designed to
prevent children from losing parental care or from being abandoned, this program runs in slums
& rural areas, within a 30 km radius of an SOS Childrens Village. The beneficiaries of this
program are children of the most vulnerable lot i.e. children of widows, single women, and
Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. Spanning 3 to 5 years, the program aims to enable families
to move out of the vicious cycle of poverty towards greater dignity and self-reliance by ensuring
education of children and income generating capacity development of the care givers.
What makes SOS families so unique in the world of alternative care is the long-term relationship
every child develops with his or her SOS brothers and sisters and the SOS mother. Additionally,
together with partners from the community, the organisation provides health care and education
to children and families, if these services are not readily available. SOS Childrens Villages of
India also operates kindergartens, day-care centres, schools and vocational training centres and
also runs medical centres, with an emphasis on specialised child care and women empowerment.
Finally, through advocacy, we aim to improve the overall framework conditions for children who
have been rendered orphaned or who are at risk of losing parental care. We work in the spirit of
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and we promote these rights through
our flagship programmes. Successful advocacy, based on our experience as a practitioner, brings
about changes in policies and practices that weaken childrens rights leads to sustainable changes
to improve the situation for children and families everywhere.
50 Years, 22 states, 32 SOS Childrens Villages and over 25, 000 beneficiaries. Thats where we
stand today. Proud in our pursuit and commitment of providing quality care and a sense of

identity to a once abandoned or parentless child, we take responsibility of each and every life
thriving in an SOS family.
SOS Childrens Villages of India is a part of the worldwide non-governmental social
development organisation, SOS Childrens Villages International, active in the field of child care
in 133 countries around the world.

Welcome To Our Indian

Orphanage
In the heart of every child is a hunger for home. Not just for food and a place to sleep, but
for safety and community. Most importantly: for love. At the Good Shepherd Agricultural
Mission, 350kms east of Delhi in the town of Banbasa, we are much more than a home for
unwanted Indian orphans. We are a family, where Gods love guides us all as we grow and
expand year after year. Not just an Indian orphanage, we are a nearly self-sustaining
organization; a working farm, a vibrant school, receiving no government assistance of any
kind.

Our
Orphanage

Our
School

Agriculture
Projects

Leprosy
Mission

Disaster
Relief

Vocational
Training

Introduction Video
For more than 70 years, with the help of caring individuals worldwide and a lot of hard work,
we wake up each day with the same goal: to bring as much love to as many unwanted
children as possible. Its not always easy, it comes with a long list of challenges to
overcome but we are doing it! Lives are being changed and stories rewritten. We are
excited to have you along for the ride. Take a look at our introduction video, it was put
together by long time volunteer and friend of our organization, John Marshall.

Our Orphan Children

Please take some time to sit and browse through the rest of our orphanages website, we do
our best to update it regularly. There is plenty of information to see that we hope will bring
you closer to understanding us, our orphans, our goals and our dreams. If you are looking
for volunteering information or volunteer work with our orphans please take a look at our
visitors information section.

Welcome To The Family!

So take a look around our website; meet the team, see what we do. We would love to get to
know you more, learn about how you heard of our organization and also hear any thoughts
or ideas that you might have. If you are interested in volunteering or donating, please click
the appropriate buttons below. We cannot do this work alone so were glad youre here.
Welcome to the family!

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Each year, when the land heats up faster than the surrounding ocean, the usual air currents
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Superhero Smackdown!
This post was originally from www.johnmarshall.com... Ive always loved superheroes.
When I was a boy, I read all the comic books, loved to wear towel

Winners!
We have a winner! After thirty days of non-stop events, Summer Games 3 is officially in the
record books. It was a photo finish and
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Summer Games
Each year during the school summer holidays we run the Summer Games. 40 days of
madness, games, activities, bus trips, camping, movies, water fights, competitions and
more. This year our games were taken to the next level with international trips to the
Suklaphata Wildlife Park in Nepal, camping trips in the jungle, visits to the mountains, a
zombie outbreak, fishing and cooking competitions and some insane water sports! The
games are now over but the memories will last for ever!