THE SILVER OAK DIFFERENCE

The Silver Oak Difference 

 (the vision & what makes us unique):  

The Silver Oak Vision is Simple; To give every possible orphan child a good life and to make them understand that there is so much to life to dream and long for as well as give them a reason to believe in their dreams and by various positive means, back them up and help them in achieving those dreams. 

It is true that every child has a desire to become anything they aspire to be, and we work at great lengths to see to it that each child under the Silver Oak home achieves his/her purpose in life.

 Many Children are effectively Homeless at the age of 10 

Strong organisations start with a clear definition of the problem to be addressed. From there, There should be clear connections between Resources, Actions and Interventions to advance the short and long term outcomes they hope to see. In Beyond the Orphanage's case, the plight of millions of orphans is not the definition of the problem (although it is a big problem) - We go deeper in our understanding. Specifically, We know that many orphanages are filled to capacity, That children are asked to leave the Orphanage at Age 10 or 12. Looking at the demographics inn that age range in Addis Ababa, This tells us that many children are effectively homeless at the age of 10.

Again, We go beyond the giant problem of homelessness as defined as being without a home. A home without Natural supports, Formal supports, and all the ingredients that go into making a Healthy, Productive human being is, Well, Just an empty space. We decided to tailor our actions;  Our interventions to Providing all the ingredients orphaned children in Poverty will need to heal, To Thrive, and to Grow into Healthy, Productive adults.

The "Actions", Or The parts of the Beyond the Orphanage interventions (What Makes Us Unique) include: 

• Family finding (an intake process conducted in collaboration with local women, children, and Youth Affairs representatives: they exhaustively know who are orphaned and what family members may be available to talk through possible placements)
• Team Decision makinng (TDM- a collaboration between Child, Guardian, BTO staff to make Choices for Best interests of Child)
• Saturday sessions (Twice/month, Objectives are to enhaance life skills, Education, Social Support)
• Daily drop-in center with homework assistance, Tutoring, Computers, and Books
• Mentoring
• Psychological Support
• Guardian Training's (to improve Parenting skills)
• Educational Support (School stipends and Material supports)
• Emergency concrete services ($, Transport, Food, Clothes)
• Health Services (Prevention, Education, Intervention) 

In general, Our Goal is that Each child the organisation works with will Succeed in spite of the difficult paths they have traveled. Specifically, the outcomes we expect to see are lumped into two categories:  Increased Protective factors  and  Reduced Risk Factors.