SOS Children's Villages USA Awarded $2.1 Million Grant to Provide Family-Like Care for Children Separated From Their Families in Migration Crisis in Colombia

The grant-funded program will care for thousands of unaccompanied and separated children in Colombia

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- SOS Children's Villages USA, a nonprofit dedicated to providing children with safe, loving families, has been awarded a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM). The initial award will support the program Protection Beyond Borders, which aims to address the critical needs of children separated from their families in Colombia caused by the ongoing migration crisis from Venezuela.

With increasing levels of violence, declining economic opportunities and limited access to education and health care services, more than seven million¹ families and children are fleeing Venezuela and settling in Colombia. This journey has left over 800,000 children alone, at risk of trafficking, exploitation, hunger and other life-threatening hardships.

Protection Beyond Borders will focus on ensuring vulnerable unaccompanied and separated children have their basic needs met with safe homes, non-institutional care, trauma-informed psychological support and access to non-formal education. Additionally, collaboration with local state authorities will strengthen capacities for sustainable care.

Temporary care will also be delivered for the first time in the Darién region — one of the most dangerous jungles and migration routes in the world — along with six other high needs areas: La Guajira, Santander, Norte de Santander, Antioquia, Valle del Cauca and Nariño.

SOS Children's Villages is the largest non-governmental organization focused on children without parental care and the largest organization providing long-term and temporary alternative care to unaccompanied and separated children in Colombia.

"Children affected by migration in Colombia are among the most vulnerable in the world," said Jill Nosach, the CEO and National Director of SOS Children's Villages USA. "We are well-equipped—through our trauma-informed care and psychosocial support—to provide for these children and adolescents in a welcoming, comfortable, family environment until they can be reunited with their biological families. This is the best approach for the child's safety and recovery, but no one else is doing it—and certainly not at this scale."

SOS Children's Villages draws upon deep experience from responding to crises worldwide, including recent service to more than 220,000 children affected by the war in Ukraine, providing emergency assistance to more than 27,000 children affected by the earthquake in Morocco and delivering emergency support and care to more than 15,000 children and families in Gaza, Israel and Lebanon.

SOS Children's Villages locally based staff in both Colombia and Venezuela work together to blend local traditions, languages and customs, mitigating risks and ensuring children comfortably acclimate to their new surroundings.

The PRM initial award will allow SOS Children's Villages to serve over 5,000 of the most vulnerable children from the program's implementation on September 30, 2024 to its conclusion in September 2025.

To learn more about SOS Children's Villages and its programs, or to get involved, visit www.sos-usa.org.

About SOS Children's Villages:
SOS Children's Villages is the world's largest organization providing safe, loving homes to children without parental care. For more than 75 years and in 130 countries, SOS Children's Villages has been raising children with everything they need—loving families, healthy food, quality education, professional health care and more. SOS provides continual support as young people transition into adulthood—all while strengthening the families and communities around them, so children and young people can reach their full potential and thrive.

¹ Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela, Refugee and Migrant Response Plan 2023-2024.

Contact:
Jennifer Teichman
Director of Creative Strategy and Services
SOS Children's Villages USA
[email protected]
(401) 338-5997
sos-usa.org 

SOURCE SOS Children's Villages