Frequently Asked Question

No we are not allowed to give children for adoption. Please contact Child Protection Bureau at 0321-8472898.

Funds contributed for sponsorship are used to cover expenses associated with child’s upkeep like food, clothing, medical care, recreation, utility bills etc. This is being monitored & evaluated through our annual audit report, which is available for our sponsors to review. Hence, that is how you will know that your money is spent for the right purpose.

Normally we have children from one year onward under our care. However, there is no definite age to get a child sponsored. Whenever we have an unsponsored child, we try to get him/her sponsor immediately. On the other hand, there are certain admission criteria which are age bound and further information can be obtained from our website.

Sponsorship program is not time bound, one can quit anytime giving a prior notice. However, we encourage our sponsors to establish a long lasting relationship with us and keep sponsoring till he/she resides under our care.

Please note that girls can live for as long as they wish under our care, however for boys, we prefer them to leave the facility and start living an independent life once they start earning enough income to support themselves. Most of our children in the past, both boys and girls left our care around the age of 23-25 years. Every child can avail the opportunity of higher studies under our care, many of them have gone to become doctors, engineers, professors, architects and bankers.

There is slight flexibility in this, you may let us know your preference regarding the child's age or gender and we try our best to accommodate your request depending upon the such availability.

Yes, but we suggest that the gifts should be less expensive and light in weight so that they can be shared with other children too and they won't feel left out.

You can donate through our website following our online portal or through our Bank Account No.

At the time of allocation, we share the brief history profile of the child, which is then followed by an annual progress report. In case of more frequent inquiries and updates sponsors can always write us for desired information.

Yes, Zakat is acceptable for sponsorship of a Child.

Mostly, the English Medium curriculum is followed.

The children residing under our care are categorized as orphans, social orphans, abandoned/lost children, etc. These children are brought to us by their immediate families, relatives, and sometimes through government agencies. We are also accommodating the children of single mothers where the father figure is missing for various reasons; for this category of children, we have our separate facilities known as family homes which are part of our family strengthening programs.

Girls with no extended family or relatives are our responsibility, and we get them married in our care once they reach the age of marriage. Girls can live for as long as they wish under our care; however, for boys, we prefer them to leave us and start living an independent life once they start earning enough income to support themselves.
Roughly most of the children in the past, both boys and girls left our care around the age bracket (25-27 years); girls got married or reunited with their families, whereas boys started earning or returned to their families.

The children residing under our care are categorized as orphans, social orphans, abandoned/lost children, etc. These children are brought to us by their immediate families, relatives, and sometimes through government agencies. We are also accommodating the children of single mothers where the father figure is missing for various reasons; for this category of children, we have our separate facilities known as family homes which are part of our family strengthening programs.

Girls with no extended family or relatives are our responsibility, and we get them married in our care once they reach the age of marriage. Girls can live for as long as they wish under our care; however, for boys, we prefer them to leave us and start living an independent life once they start earning enough income to support themselves.
Roughly most of the children in the past, both boys and girls left our care around the age bracket (25-27 years); girls got married or reunited with their families, whereas boys started earning or returned to their families.

We offer two types of sponsorships for the convenience of our sponsors; for those who do not wish to subscribe to the full sponsorship amount, we offer the option of co-sponsoring. In our full sponsorship program, you are the child's sole sponsor; as per our policies, we will not allocate your sponsored child to another sponsor until and unless you quit our sponsorship program. In partial sponsorship, two or more people sponsor the same child at partial sponsorship rates.

Sponsorship doesn't work like adoption, as SOS is the child's sole guardian, and the child's custody is with us for as long as he/she resides under our care. A sponsor pays for the child's monthly expenses. At the same time, the child stays with us, and the sponsor can be a part of the child's major life decisions, including guiding and motivating the sponsored child throughout his education and career. However, any communication which might take place with the child is protected by our Child Protection Policy, hence is supervised by the management to ensure the safety of the children.

The funds contributed in sponsorship are used to cover the expenses of children under our care, such as the child's education and other expenses associated with his/her upkeep, like food, clothing, medical care, recreation, utility bills, etc.

You can stay in touch with the child by visiting and writing letters. However, we prefer the contact to be maintained occasionally because we do not want to disturb children's regular routine. Ideally, you can come and meet your sponsored child once a month; for a successful visit, we recommend that you make a prior arrangement with the Village Director before planning to meet the child. Meanwhile, you may communicate with the child via virtual call under the supervision of the concerned Village Director. Our child protection policy for the security of the children protects all communication with the child.

You may communicate with the child via email and phone through our Village Directors' contact details. For child’s safety and protection, we do not allow our children of a younger age to keep their cell phones.

You can send gifts to your sponsored child, which should be lightweight and inexpensive so they can be shared with other children and they don't feel left out. For that matter, you can parcel the gift directly to the concerned Village; all addresses are mentioned on our website However, if you want to send the money and want us to buy something for your sponsored child, you can transfer us the amount as well, and we will make the necessary arrangements and share the pictures/thank you a note of the child with you.

If the children in your desired SOS facility are fully sponsored, then we allocate you from the nearest SOS facility to your desired location. Alternatively, you can also start donating to our open sponsorship fund and get your name written on the waiting list for the sponsorship of profiles in your preferred SOS Village. This way, whenever an unsponsored profile is available in your desired SOS Village, we will inform you and reallocate your funds accordingly.

Once we share the child’s profile with you and you agree to sponsor the child, you can proceed by paying using any of the payment methods convenient to you and share your transaction details with us. Once your transaction details are received, we will revert to you with an acknowledgment receipt. No other documentation is required from your end.

Our online system automatically sends reminders to sponsors to make their payment between 1st -10th of every month, as most of our sponsors' demand. Sometimes a donor already donated but the bank confirms it later, which is why the payment is not reflecting in our system and the donor receives a reminder notice from our end.

We commit to provide an annual progress report of the child i.e, once a year. Monthly updates are a bit unrealistic as there are no significant changes in the child during a month. Still, you can ask the Village Director to update you about your sponsored child whenever you wish to know and we will update you on the progress of your sponsored child.

We wish that our sponsors continue to sponsor their sponsored child as long as the child is in our care. However, there is no specific time limitation, you can sponsor the child for as long as it is convenient for you. If, for example, due to unforeseen circumstances, a sponsor wishes to discontinue at some point, they must only inform us of their decision whenever they wish to quit.

If your payment is delayed for any reason, you just need to intimate us beforehand so that we could update our records accordingly and keep the child reserved under your sponsorship. Otherwise, a sponsorship is terminated if no payment and intimation is received for two months after the due date (Reminders are also sent to that effect). Another sponsor is sought and allocated to the child in case of termination of sponsorship.

Life membership of Friends of SOS means you will become part of our membership program and get regular updates and invitations regarding any event, fundraisers, publications, etc.

Education Endowment covers the educational expenses of children attending the schools. We have our schools with many of our projects, the SOS Hermann Gmeiner Schools. However, in the facilities where we do not have our schools, children are attending local schools there. This is not child-specific; we allocate these funds as per the need.