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ANNUAL REPORT 2015 BRITISH COLUMBIA SOS Children’s Village British Columbia 1 THE SOS BC IMPACT – LOOK AT US GROW! in 2015... children/youth and 12 families called our community-integrated 98 Village home children and youth received 45 therapeutic services 14 caregivers received children25 attended camps and support and professional recreational programs enhancement through Caregiver Support Services 25 29youth supported by Youth children and youth Workers in the Transition to explored the Sounds of Adulthood Program Learning Music Program 100% high school graduation rate in the children Village (compared to participated in 25% for BC youth in our After School foster care) 390 Learning Clubs 2 SOS Children’s Village British Columbia ALAN’S STORY INNOVATIVE TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD PROGRAM TEACHES LIFE SKILLS, FOSTERS HOPE Alan is a former foster child. After “aging out” of government team at SOS helped Alan to enroll in school, assisted him in care at nineteen years old, Alan was headed down a lonely, his search for a safe place to live, and taught him those basic self-destructive path. It looked like he was destined for a life life skills we tend to take for granted, but which so many of poverty, substance abuse, and violence –– or worse. Until foster kids miss out on: how to apply for a job, how to write a SOS Children’s Village BC came into his life. cheque, pay bills, work out a budget. Alan entered government care at the age of 12. Over the next six years, Alan figured he’d been in more than 50 foster Just a few weeks after his homes. With so much upheaval in his life, he didn’t finish high school. Just a few weeks after his nineteenth birthday, nineteenth birthday, Alan Alan was already living on the streets, heavily involved in drugs and turning to crime to support his habit. was already living on the If you had asked him about the future, Alan would have streets, heavily involved in told you he expected to be dead before he was twenty-five, from drugs or violence. It seemed as though, in his despair, drugs and turning to crime Alan was doing everything he could to make that prediction come true. Then he met a youth worker from SOS Children’s to support his habit. Village BC. That first, brief conversation with our youth worker reminded Thanks to the generous donations of caring individuals like Alan that he’d once had dreams of going to university, of you, who believe that vulnerable young people like Alan getting a good job, owning a car, and having a regular life. deserve a chance at life, today Alan is enrolled in a post- secondary program. He’s got a part-time job, a safe place to It made him realize he didn’t actually have to die at twenty- live, and a bright future ahead of him. It’s a far cry from living five. on the streets, expecting to die of an overdose before the age of twenty-five. But Alan didn’t know how to make any of his dreams a reality. His chaotic childhood and his teen years bumping As Alan says, “I couldn’t have done it without the people at from one foster placement to another had left him with no SOS –– they saved my life.” skills: he didn’t know how to open a bank account, how to register for school, how to apply for a job, or how to find a And SOS Children’s Village BC can’t do it without you: the safe place to live. support of our donors is what makes all our innovative, proven effective programs possible. Fortunately for Alan, those are exactly the kinds of life skills that the Transition to Adulthood program at SOS Children’s Village BC teaches to vulnerable, at-risk young people. Our *Names and identifying specifics have been changed to protect the identity and confidentiality of the youth involved. SOS Children’s Village British Columbia 3 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT + EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 2015 has been a year of change and renewal for SOS to the healthy social development of a child. At SOS, we Children’s Village BC. This year, we embarked on an work with Ministry of Children and Family Development (or ambitious restructuring of our program offerings. Our goals: Ministry designated agencies) to have sibling groups in long- to ensure our programs fully meet the urgent needs of term care placed with the Caregivers in our Village. foster children and their foster families, and to realize our founders’ vision and prove that the SOS Children’s Villages Pillar 3: A safe and nurturing home. The very word “home” International model of care works in a BC context. conjures up images of peace, harmony, love, and safety. The SOS vision is to create a physically safe home where SOS Almost all of the revenues of SOS Children’s Village BC Moms and Dads can build a nurturing family structure that will come from donations from our many caring and committed meet children’s basic needs, and which will allow them to open volunteers, donors, and partners. Just 6% of our annual up to the healing and growth programs offered in our Village. revenue comes from the provincial government. This means that with the support and participation of our donors, SOS Pillar 4: The Village as a community. Our Village is a Children’s Village BC has the freedom and flexibility to community of children and adults living and working develop programming that matches the current needs of together, supported by a core of highly trained, dedicated, children and youth in care. Over the past year, that’s exactly and dynamic SOS professionals. Together, our professional what we’ve been doing. Caregivers and other service providers support the Village children through individualized programming. Watching Early in 2015, Dr. Lise’ DeLong joined SOS Children’s Village out for each other, loving and nurturing, from a trauma- BC as our Clinical Director. With Dr. Delong’s leadership, informed perspective, we are creating the first interactive we have undertaken changes in our programming that are therapeutically-intensive Village in the SOS federation. transforming SOS Children’s Village BC, and that promise to transform the lives of the children and youth we care for. We Our Village Caregivers are the heart and the core of our are creating an interactive, therapeutically-intensive Village organization. We want to acknowledge the hearts that face that is trauma-informed –– something unique and special, the daily challenges and tears of creating loving homes for even in the SOS world. children who may never have experienced such safety and support. Anne, Marilyn, Almar, Shedion, Shirley, Mickey, These changes will mean that in the future, SOS Children’s Brian, Jaol, Debbie, Barb, Velma, Rachel, Shannon, and Village BC will even more strongly support the four pillars Pamela, thank you for all you do. It has been our honour and of SOS. These are the core values that for 66 years have privilege to work with and for you. successfully assisted millions of children in the 564 SOS Villages operating in 134 countries. Thanks also to our incredible SOS Team, Directors, Staff and Volunteers, who help our SOS BC children grow into caring, Pillar 1: Mom as the heart of the home. We will be striving to self-reliant adults. assist our SOS Moms (and Dads!) to become highly trained childcare professionals with specialized skills in caregiving to Finally, we also thank our volunteers, donors, corporate traumatized children. partners, and friends. By contributing your time, talent, resources, and philanthropy you’ve made a significant Pillar 2: Sibling groups kept together. When siblings enter difference in the lives of children and families. These care, it is extremely important that they be kept together. investments ensure that the future of SOS Children’s Village Similarly, developing a mix of genders/ages within a foster BC holds still unimagined possibilities for every child. family to create a sibling dynamic is of primary importance Rene Aulinger Douglas Dunn President, Board of Directors Executive Director 4 SOS Children’s Village British Columbia ABOUT SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGE BC WHO WE ARE SOS Children’s Villages is the world’s largest non- OUR VISION governmental, non-denominational child development Every child belongs to a family and grows organization. In the past 65 years, more than 560 Villages with love, respect and security have been established in 134 nations. British Columbia is home to the only SOS Children’s Village in Canada. Foster children are frequently at risk of emotional OUR MISSION disturbances, delayed social development and poor educational performance. Foster parents who raise these We provide stable homes, a supportive children require ongoing special resources and support. and healing Village environment, and SOS Children’s Village BC enhances the development community-based family care programs and healing of foster children by addressing their physical, social, emotional and spiritual needs. We actively create to help foster children and youth in need opportunities, programs and services for children to become grow into caring, self-reliant adults balanced, responsible, contributing members of society. We seek long term stability for the foster children and families in our Village, including a strong focus on transition to adulthood and family reunification programming. OUR VALUES We are striding forward with a community-integrated Village Courage: We take action of 12 homes, a 2.5 acre campus with Village Centre, sports Commitment: We keep our promises and recreation areas, and we are adding the first 3 of 5 transition to adulthood suites.

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