SOS Children's Villages started working in Germany in the mid-1950s, after the foundation of "SOS-Kinderdorf e.V." in Munich. The SOS Children's Villages concept aroused great interest in Germany; the number of members and friends rapidly increased, and in subsequent years our organisation was able to expand its support to reach children, young people and families in nearly 40 locations around the country.
The SOS Children's Village Black Forest was completed in 1959 and consists of nine family houses, were about fifty children are living. Two of the houses are rented to families from Vietnam and Egypt, who are fully integrated into the SOS community. It is located in the city of Sulzburg, about 20 kilometres from the Swiss border.
At the ancillary educational community children and youth from difficult family backgrounds can find temporary accommodation and therapeutic aid. The goal is to re-integrate the children into their natural families. Another educational community offers day care as well as support in school and vocational affairs and therapy, if necessary. In 1998 a day care centre for 75 children from three to eleven years was opened on the site of the SOS Children's Village Black Forest and is also open to the children from the neighbourhood. A youth centre is also maintained for youth from the SOS Children's Village Black Forest and from the vicinity, giving them the possibility to spend their spare time to together.
