We provide family-based alternative care to children and youth in British Columbia with foster experience. The core of our mission is to empower children, youth and families in need to grow into caring, self-reliant people from the foundation of our core village. We are working side by side with children, youth, foster families, volunteers, and community partners, ensuring that every child feels supported, loved, and empowered at every step of their journey.
The five care homes in our village stand symbolically side by side, reflecting the unity and cooperation of everyone involved—from our dedicated staff and foster parents to volunteers and partner organizations like MCFD. Together, we create a nurturing environment that puts the best interests of the children first, offering them a stable and loving home.
Until 2024, SideBySide Children’s Village Society was operating under the name SOS Children’s Village British Columbia (Canada) Society. Hermann Gmeiner, a native Austrian, founded the first Austrian SOS Children’s Villages association in 1949. For Hermann Gmeiner, the original goal was, after the devastation of the Second World War, to provide children who had lost their parents or were abandoned with a family, a house, and a village in which to feel at home. The first SOS Children’s Village was built in Imst in the Austrian province of Tyrol the same year.
The very first house in the village was named “House of Peace”. Imst has become the model for SOS Children’s Villages all over the world; an adaptable and all-embracing child-care concept. Although we are no longer affiliated with the SOS association, our village model remains deeply inspired by Hermann Gmeiner’s vision. We continue to provide children with a nurturing environment at the Village; a family-like structure, a safe home, and a supportive community where they can thrive and feel a true sense of belonging.
As of 2024, we are no longer affiliated with SOS Children’s Village Canada.
Our ‘non-denominational’ stance could also be described as ‘faith neutral’; we do not encourage or advocate for any one faith or religion over another.
SideBySide Children’s Village Society’s primary concern is always with the well-being of children who have lost their parents or been abandoned, regardless of politics. For these reasons, SideBySide Children’s Village Society works to remain a non-political organization.
Located on the unceded traditional territories of the Salish Peoples, including the qicəy (Katzie), qʷɑ:nƛən (Kwantlen), and Semiahma (Semiahmoo) land-based nations.
Registered Canadian Charity #: 12993-5011 RR0001 | © 2025 SideBySide Children’s Village Society | Website by FirstPage Marketing
