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SOS Children's Villages offer a new home to children up to the age of ten who have lost their parents or cannot live with them for various reasons. Regardless of race, culture or religion, children admitted to an SOS Children's Village find a family in which they are given the love and security that every child needs for sound development. Pairs or groups of siblings or half-siblings (even if over the age of ten) are not separated and stay together in one family. The child welfare authorities are always involved in the admission process. Before any child is admitted to an SOS Children?s Village, careful and conscientious thought is given as to whether the children?s village is the best source of long-term care in each individual case. As a general rule it is assumed that children who move into an SOS Children?s Village will remain there until they are self-reliant. This continuity enables the children to form lasting emotional bonds with their new family. At the village, the future SOS mother, the village director and the village psychologist consider how the child can be given the maximum support before he or she moves to their new home. The children already living in the family are carefully prepared for the arrival of their new brother or sister to ensure a harmonious integration process. Wherever possible, the child's parents are involved, and decisions regarding visiting rules and future contacts with the child are made jointly. The village director has a special role to play in this process. As the mediator between the new arrival and the established SOS Children's Village families, he ensures that the newcomer is accepted and supported by all concerned. A sensitive response to the child's situation and needs at this time of fundamental change in his or her life is decisive for the child's future development. The village director's other task in this context is to keep a full record of the child's pre-admission biography, listing all the details of his or her origins and background, as well as the developments that finally led to admission. This information is of great value for making decisions about the child?s needs and also to give the child a realistic picture of his or her past as they grow up. Ultimately all these preparatory measures serve the central goal of preparing the child, his or her relatives (wherever possible), the SOS Children's Village family and the whole village community for the process of admission. This in turn helps ensure that the new arrival is given a warm welcome in the village and especially in his or her new SOS Children's Village family.