Working for SOS Children's Villages 

Our organisation aims at integrating the children and youngsters living at its facilities into their society and their culture in the best possible way. This we believe can best be achieved by using local staff. Our policy is therefore to employ local staff for all functions and on all levels.

More information on working for SOS Children's Villages

SOS-Kinderdorf International does not run its own volunteer programme. Internship placements are only possible in your own country.

More information

Generally, the criteria are as follows:

• Age: between 25 and 40 years

• Education: if possible nine years of compulsory education; in countries where this standard is usually not reached by women, each SOS Children's Village has to make sure that the future mothers are also provided with some basic education (literacy) during the special training they receive before they can become SOS mothers.

• Marital status: single, widowed, separated or divorced (in some regions only women without children of their own)

• State of health: in good physical and mental health

• Aptitude for this kind of work and life
Willingness to deal with difficult children in a loving and supporting way, and to take responsibility; readiness to be there for the children practically around the clock for a long time

Each SOS Children's Village association has the duty to provide theoretical and practical training for prospective SOS mothers in order to prepare them for their job. The theoretical training programme should take at least three months with subsequent refresher and reflection courses (every other year at the minimum). In European countries, the theoretical training usually takes a year. Then, future SOS mothers undergo several months of practical training on the ground at the SOS Children's Village.

 
Read all about the SOS mothers

Since the beginning of SOS Children's Villages, we have had good experience hiring women as SOS mothers. These women have been ready to make the children and youngsters part of their own lives and be the person they can relate to most closely over a considerable period of time. Most applicants for this position are still women.

There is no doubt that married couples can be a perfect alternative to single mothers, especially as far as the long-term education of, and care for, children and youngsters is concerned. The many private foster families are a case in point. Over the past few years, some married couples have taken responsibility for SOS Children's Village families in a number of European countries. Lately, even male applicants have taken on the responsibility of acting as an SOS parent.

Should an SOS mother consider getting married, we would always try to find an appropriate solution so that she can continue working as an SOS mother. Sometimes this could mean that now the couple would carry on looking after the children and youngsters together within the SOS Children's Village.