SOS Children's Villages India
SOS Children's Villages India is the country's most extensive self-implementing childcare NGO, established in 1964. The organisation works on a simple but powerful premise: every child deserves to grow up in a loving family environment, not an institution. To make this possible, SOS India creates and runs residential villages where children who have lost parental care or are at serious risk of losing it are raised in family homes by trained SOS Mothers and Aunts.
Today, over 6,500 children live in more than 440 family homes across 32 SOS Children's Villages in 22 states and union territories, from Srinagar to Kochi and Bhuj to Shillong. The organisation's reach extends well beyond residential care. Through its basket of care solutions, SOS India also strengthens families at risk so that children can remain with their own parents, runs educational institutions and vocational training centres, and supports young people as they transition into adulthood and independent living. Over 65,000 children benefit from SOS programmes each year, positively impacting more than 83,000 lives in total.
The organisation works closely with state governments and implements several government schemes, making it a trusted partner in India's child protection ecosystem.
Programmes
- Family-based residential care Children without parental care grow up in family homes within SOS Children's Villages, cared for by SOS Mothers and Aunts in a stable, nurturing environment.
- Family strengthening programme Works with vulnerable families and communities to prevent child abandonment by building financial resilience and parenting capacity, so children can stay with their own families.
- Educational support Runs SOS Hermann Gmeiner Schools, vocational training centres, and educational facilities that serve both children in SOS care and children from surrounding communities.
- Youth care and transition support Supports young people leaving SOS care through life skills training, higher education assistance, and career guidance so they can build independent lives.
- Emergency response Provides shelter, care, and psychosocial support to children affected by disasters, conflicts, and other crises.
Six decades of child welfare work. SOS India has been doing this work since 1964, making it one of the oldest and most established child welfare organisations in the country. Staff join a genuinely proven model, not an experiment. Operating across 22 states and union territories means roles exist in cities, smaller towns, and geographies that most NGOs do not reach. The organisation's footprint is genuinely national. SOS Children's Villages International operates in 136 countries. Working in India means being part of a worldwide network with shared knowledge, standards, and opportunities for professional exchange. For anyone who believes that institutional orphanages are not the answer and that children need families, SOS represents a living, scaled proof of that conviction. The work is philosophically coherent. SOS India's deep relationships with state governments mean staff work at the intersection of civil society and public systems, giving them exposure to how policy and practice connect in child protection. The organisation needs social workers, educators, vocational trainers, healthcare professionals, administrators, fundraisers, and communications specialists. It is one of the few child-focused NGOs in India with a genuinely diverse range of professional opportunities.
