Dami Im

FAQs

• Why is there a minimum and maximum limit on gifts given to my sponsored child?

  Gifts can make a significant difference to a child and their family. Whether you give a birthday, family or child centre gift, there are minimum and maximum limits in place to ensure that your monetary gift has a positive impact. There are three reasons for limits on gift frequency and amounts:

  1. Good development practice: Gifts that are too large or given too often can create dependence, which doesn’t empower healthy development practices for children or their families.

  2. Community safety: Compassion is committed to child protection. Because we serve within the context of a community, we want to ensure that larger gifts don't attract unwanted attention or put children and families at risk of harm.

  3. Currency exchange rates: While 100 per cent of your monetary gift goes to the child, family or centre respectively, a required minimum gift amount ensures that once converted into local currency, your gift still has the impact you intended.

• When will my sponsored child complete Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program?

  Sponsored children graduate from the Child Sponsorship Program once they have completed school or a vocational training course. Depending on the community and the child's situation, they usually aim to complete secondary education before graduating. The age of children completing the program varies from country to country, depending on the education system and other cultural and organisational differences. However, graduation usually occurs between 18 and 22 years old.

  Every teenager registered in our program writes a plan for their future, including their likely date for graduation. You are welcome to write to your older sponsored child and ask about what is in their 'My Plan for Tomorrow'.

  Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program works towards holistic development of children, so that when they graduate they are:

  • Healthy and able to make wise decisions about their health
  • Motivated with skills to be economically self-supporting
  • Able to interact with others in a healthy and compassionate manner
  • Given the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel message

  Sometimes, a child may leave the program before graduation; for example, if their family moves from the area, their home situation improves, or their family chooses to withdraw them.

  You can:

  • Write a letter
  • Learn more about how the Child Sponsorship Program works
  • Sponsor a child
• How much does it cost to sponsor a child with Compassion Australia?

  Sponsoring a child with Compassion costs $55 per month per sponsored child. Your generous contribution each month helps supply resources to local churches partnering with us in developing communities, and provide a range of benefits to the children who are registered in the program, including:

  • The opportunity to hear the gospel in a culturally relevant way
  • Learning opportunities, school supplies and assistance with school fees as needed
  • Health care such as medical check-ups, dental care and vaccinations
  • Nutritious meals as required
  • Key life skills and vocational training programs
  • Individualised care and attention

  For an additional $12 a month (or another amount of your choosing), you can support Critical Needs. There are nine Critical Needs you can choose to support, depending on which areas you are most passionate about, such as providing safe water and sanitation, building homes and classrooms, providing vocational training, supporting newborn babies and pregnant mums and more. Critical Needs address areas of life for children that are beyond the reach of sponsorship, providing customised solutions to help children and their communities overcome obstacles to their development.

  You can give to Critical Needs even if you don’t sponsor a child.

  You can:

  • Sponsor a child
  • Give to Critical Needs
  • Read more about our finances
• Aren't all children in Compassion's programs highly vulnerable?

  Every child living in poverty is vulnerable and every child registered with Compassion faces a level of vulnerability. But children who are assisted by the Highly Vulnerable Children fund have been identified as needing extra assistance to protect them from high-risk situations.

  Specifically, Compassion's Highly Vulnerable Children fund assists: children who have been orphaned (or youth-headed households), children whose primary caregiver is incapacitated, children who have suffered abuse or exploitation, and children with special needs.

  Children who fall into these circumstances require assistance beyond the support sponsorship provides. While they will still benefit from the Child Sponsorship Program, extra assistance is needed to stabilise and restore them and ensure they are safe from immediate threats.

• My first letter from my sponsored child referred to him or her as the wrong gender. Why?

  The first letter from your sponsored child is usually written very soon after the child receives the good news that he or she has been sponsored. Regular letters have a barcode on them telling the translator whether the child is a boy or girl. As the first special letter doesn't yet have that code, the translator does not know the gender of your sponsored child and may make an error.

  You can:

  • Write a letter
  • Learn more about how your letters reach your child
  • Sponsor a child