Giving Compass' Take:

• Neil Ghosh shares SOS Children’s Villages family-based care model that is designed to provide holistic care to set children up for life-long success. 

• Can this model be further improved? How do the needs of children differ across cultures and geography?

• Learn about holistic care for refugees. 

Our family-based care model, which started in Austria in 1949, provides children with loving families in a village setting. As our organization grew, we realized there was a greater need to help families become more self-sufficient with programs that prevent family breakdown.

Prevention: Working in conjunction with state welfare institutions, national SOS offices organize teams of trained social workers go into communities and liaise with parents and other community partners to identify children and families in need. SOS family-strengthening programs are designed to fill gaps in assistance from state welfare organizations, and each program is tailored to local community needs and designed for long-term sustainability—including job training and economic assistance to help caregivers achieve economic independence. This coordinated delivery of services stabilizes childhoods, increases school attendance, and improves health outcomes for households.

Long-term Care: Every child needs a supportive, protective, and caring environment that promotes their full potential. Without a long-term care model, vulnerable children are at special risk of being denied a nurturing environment. Most long-term care is designed to end at a certain age, but SOS takes a lifelong view; independence and self-sufficiency are the ultimate goal.

Education and Empowerment: Quality education and youth empowerment are important parts of outfitting children and young adults for lifelong success. Beyond academics, children must learn essential life skills—such as budgeting, cooking, and navigating workplace norms—that prepare them for independence and help them learn how to handle conflict. They also need career planning advice, job readiness training, access to vocational workshops, and mentoring.

Advocacy: Giving children and young people in alternative care the chance to participate in national and international decision-making processes can impact the provision and breadth of services, and positively affect their lives and the lives of others like them.

Read the full article about a family-based care model by Neil Ghosh at Stanford Social Innovation Review.