Child Safeguarding

Many children all over the world still experience violence and abuse in many forms. Poverty and conflict make children more vulnerable to neglect, abuse, and exploitation.

We in SOS Children’s Villages work to create a safe home for children and break the cycle of violence. We work to minimize children’s exposure to risks of abuse, neglect, violence, and exploitation, and ensure that every child grows in a protective and caring environment.

Our work is in accordance to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, and our Child Protection Policy.

Child Protection Policy

Our Child Protection Policy is one of the bases of our child safeguarding programmes. We focus on four key areas:

Awareness - we break the silence on the topic of abuse by raising awareness about it and its risks, and ensuring everyone knows how to look for signs of abuse, and how to prevent it.
Prevention - we safeguard children from abuse by providing every child with a safe environment.
Reporting - we make channels for reporting child safety concerns quick, transparent, accessible, and safe.
Response - we take reports concerning child safety seriously. Appropriate responses are made according to the report to make sure everyone's rights are protected.

Alternative Care of Children

The Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children were borne from a recognition of significant gaps in the implementation of the UNCRC for millions of children worldwide either without, or at risk of losing, parental care. The international community has therefore come together and developed these Guidelines for
the Alternative Care of Children. They are the result of five years of discussions and negotiation between the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, governments led by Brazil, UNICEF, experts and academics, representatives of non-governmental organisations and, last but not least, young people with care experience.

Child Protection Policy

SOS Children’s Villages is committed to creating and maintaining a caring and protective environment which promotes its core values, and prevents and addresses child abuse and exploitation. We strongly condemn all forms of child abuse and exploitation, be it within or outside of our organisation, and always respond to any case of proven, alleged or attempted abuse within our sphere of
influence according to its nature. Efforts ensure that mechanisms are in place to raise awareness, aid prevention, encourage reporting and ease response. They range from human resource development actions such as training and counselling to measures such as suspension, dismissal, and legal action.

Child Protection Policy

Important Resources

SOS Care Promise

Alternative Care of Children

Child Protection Policy

Report a child safety concern