SOS Children’s Villages is a private, non-political, non-denominational organization that provides family-like care to children in need. With the support of our friends and partners, we work to ensure that each child will grow up in a loving home.

In 1949, Hermann Gmeiner founded the first SOS Children’s Village in Tyrol, Austria. He was a child welfare worker, and he saw how children suffered and were left orphaned as a result of World War II. He pioneered the family-like approach to helping children who have lost parental care.

Today, we are located in 134 countries and territories around the world. Our 571 SOS Children’s Villages are home to most of the approximately 86,000 children and young adults in our family-like care program. We also work in the communities to provide support and intervention to families at risk of breaking down. More than 467,000 people participate in our family strengthening programs.

In the Philippines, the first SOS Children’s Village was founded on May 1, 1967 in the province of Batangas. Now we have 8 villages spread across the country, and there are almost 1,000 children and young adults who live under our care. In the communities, we give support and intervention to approximately 5,600 families.

Our approach to long-term family care of orphaned and abandoned children is based on four principles: