Silvia Exenberger describes so-called “development tasks” that children and young people have to take on during the course of their lives in her article “Coping with life”. For every period in life, there are certain tasks to accomplish that require development. These include the control of bowel movement, handling the separation from a carer, finding the right career and eventually handling the loss of certain social roles in old age.
Sandra Bürger and Helen Rid have spent part of their lives at an SOS Children’s Village. They describe what they feel is particularly important and beneficial in becoming an adult in “Learning to live responsibly”.
Rolando Antonio Solis Contreras reports on youth care work at SOS Children’s Villages in Central America in his article “Between protection and care”. The interaction of young people, youth care co-workers, village directors and biological parents is the focus of his in-depth analysis.
How changes in society affect youth care work is the subject of “Fast Money vs. Future Options”, by Marika Aus.
“Let’s make a movie!” was the idea that struck Teimuraz Sikharulidze when thinking about how to getting a group of young people to work together as a team. Check out “Run VT!” to see whether or not his plan worked out.
Margaret Nkrumah and Israel Ofei run the SOS Hermann Gmeiner International College in Tema, Ghana. Rather than just give students the usual skills in mathematics, biology and the like, they are trying to provide them with an “Education for life”.
The socio-educational therapeutic community for boys and young men in Carinthia (Austria) takes care of young people who have trouble fitting in due to traumatic experiences such as sexual or physical abuse, neglect or psychological issues. The director of the facility, Gerald Stöckl, tells us about his work with the youngsters in the interview “The alternative interview”.
“What's next” asks Faizul Kabir, stressing the point that youth care work is not over when the young people leave the SOS facilities. In his contribution, he describes how SOS Children’s Villages Bangladesh supports its "former" children.
You can read about the support that family strengthening programmes provide for young people in Manoj Dash's article “I need competent guidance” and get information on the contents of these programmes in India.