Charitable Foundation “SOS Children’s Villages”
SOS Children’s Villages Ukraine is a charitable non-governmental organization with 70 years of experience working with orphans and families in crisis in the world and has been helping orphans, young people and families in difficult life circumstances for over 16 years in Ukraine. During this time, more than 80,000 children and adults received support from the foundation.
The main feature of the organization is a comprehensive approach to the problem of orphanhood. If it is not possible to preserve the family, the foster family is provided for the child, guided solely by the interests of the child. In Ukraine, there are five social support centers for families in crisis in Kyiv and Luhansk oblast, which help parents to overcome life problems and prevent the loss of parental care for children. For young people from vulnerable categories, there is a Youth Center in Kyiv, which provides psychological, educational, career guidance and other services.
The main activities of the organization in Ukraine:
- The program of family forms of upbringing – upbringing of orphans and children who have lost parental care in a family environment;
- Family Strengthening Program – keeping the child in the family and preventing the loss of parental care;
- Emergency response projects in Luhansk region. The main goal is to reduce the impact of the conflict on the lives of children and their families;
- Advocacy – actions aimed at changing policies and practices that affect the well-being of children;
- Working with young people – supporting young people who come out of care, and their preparation for independent living, etc.
In addition, SOS Children’s Towns Ukraine is implementing separate projects that strengthen the main activities of the organization and are aimed at improving the quality of life of children and youth from crisis families. One of them is the project “Jointly. Social services for families in the community”, in which the organization works in Chmyrivska, Bilovodska and Novopskovska hromadas.
Partners for the implementation of projects are the administrations of Kyiv and Luhansk regions, other associations of SOS Children’s Villages, the European Union, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and others.