Contacting your child

Part of the Child Sponsorship Agreement your child and parents/guardians have entered into is that you don’t communicate with your sponsor child outside the authorized channel of letter writing.

This is because it carries risk to your personal information and security due to potential fraud, and can also pose the same risk to your sponsor child and their family. It may also put you in awkward and difficult positions, for example if your child asks for extra financial assistance or things outside of the expertise provided in the child sponsorship programme.

If you are contacted by someone indicating they may be your sponsor child or child’s family outside of your standard child letters, please do not respond – instead contact our Supporter Relations team to let us know by calling 0800 800 777 or email info@tearfund.org.nz.

We absolutely encourage you to communicate with your sponsored child by writing letters to them which are delivered through the local partner. You can do this on our website at www.tearfund.org.nz/write-to-child.

Giving your postal address, email address, phone number etc. is not allowed under the Child Sponsorship Agreement your child and parents/guardians have entered into. This is because it carries risk to your personal information and security due to potential fraud, and can also pose the same risk to your sponsor child and their family. It may also put you in awkward and difficult positions, for example if your child asks for extra financial assistance or things outside of the expertise provided in the child sponsorship programme.  

While your child is still in the Compassion International programme we encourage you to communicate through the letter system, and ask you to not provide any other personal details. You can write to your sponsored child on our website at https://www.tearfund.org.nz/Letter-Writing.

Sure! I’m sure they will be thrilled to hear that you’d still like to stay in touch now that they’ve finished the programme. The following criteria just need to be met:

• The sponsored child is over 15 years old
• Sponsor has sponsored the child for over 5 years (or visited child)
• Sponsor has written at least 2 letters per year to child

If you meet this criteria, we can send you a Post Departure Release form. Once we receive your completed form back we’ll send it to the field office, then providing local staff can make contact with your child, your details will be passed on. From that point, it will be up to your sponsor child to initiate contact. This is a safeguard measure we use to ensure contact is desired by both parties. This may take several months and Tearfund will no longer have any involvement in facilitating communication between you and your child.   

Just a few quick thoughts from us as you look to take the friendship from here:

Be wise in what you do and don’t share, and remember that there will no longer be the translation facility available. We strongly advise against sending any money overseas to your sponsor child, adding them as a friend on Facebook, advocating for them to travel to New Zealand or offering immigration advice. If you feel uncomfortable at any time or feel that healthy boundaries may have been breached, please call us on 0800 800 777 or email info@tearfund.org.nz so that we can talk with you about the best step forward.  

Please note there are instances when your child unexpectedly leaves the programme prior to graduation. Unfortunately we cannot offer continued contact in these circumstances. 

Having your sponsored child's letters go via the child development centre is important for three main reasons:    

• It allows the programme staff to become familiar with your sponsored child's requests for prayer and support, and to help them appropriately.    
• It enables us to protect you from receiving unsolicited, inappropriate or fraudulent requests from members of your sponsored child's community who could otherwise gain access to your personal details.    
• It enables us to translate your sponsored child's letters, which are often written in a different language.

To keep your personal details secure, it's important that you don't make contact with your sponsored child outside of the established letter writing channel, such as by phone, email or using social media. If you are approached directly, please do not respond – instead contact us to let us know by calling 0800 800 777 or emailing info@tearfund.org.nz.