ABSTRACT
The mission of SOS Children’s Villages as an organization is to help children who are in need with regard to their care-giving situation and who must be, or have been, separated from the care-givers they have had to that point. Most profound concern is to provide these children with an environment which fosters their development to as great an extent as possible, and where they can grow up into socially well-integrated adults. Separation of a child from his or her parents poses a life-threatening crisis, which affects in a special way the child’s self-image and the way he or she sees the world. When a child is separated from his or her parents, the child must be respected as the victim of the current situation. His or her emotional state is to be taken seriously and shown consideration in all circumstances.
