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How would you improve the annual update we receive? Height, weight, income seem to be mostly the only changing items. The narrative on culture or difficulties of the country/area seem repetitive. Honestly, I usually skip.
I am wishing there is a space there on the biggest issues/changes that the family/kid faced in the previous year, or yes, even successes! Why not. Get the family/kid to fill this out. If they can’t think of any, then, leave it blank. I feel this could be helpful.  Is this not a good idea? I’m not looking for an essay. 2, 3 lines.

I would think perhaps any specific school struggles (low grades in any classes). Of course, this would be up to the family to disclose if a child was struggling in a certain area. That way, we could maybe get tutoring for them. 

We are in dangerous and restricted territory in discussions about the annual update, which, granted, is not informative or helpful. I don't read it either. It feels empty because 99% of the copy is old news for experienced sponsors.  Yet, what choice does CI have? The very things we want to know as sponsors may be the very things a family does not want others to know... Yes, if I knew more, I could make better judgements about EG's (extra monetary gifts) and be more sensitive, but what rights do I have to know?  Frankly, none.  I am a kind stranger far away.  True, for sponsors, this is sometimes an unsatisfying and  upsetting psychological situation -- but I accept that.  My involvement in Children International is not about my comfort, it is about easing the hard life of people struggling with poverty.  Can CI find a way to make the updates more helpful? Sure, and they will because it is obvious that CI is always looking to improve.

I know the topic is a bit old but I have to agree with Rachel. While us on MSC are super involved, lots of sponsors just do the basics. Monthly donations and maybe write letters. All of the more intimate information is really just extraneous and can just seem invasive. Remember: the bulk of the work with our kids is facilitated by the amazing on-the-ground employees and volunteers at the community centers! They're the ones that know the families and the kids and will see them regularly to address any health issues, school/tutoring needs, and various programs. These are things we'll probably never know about, but those are the people for whom it's important to know this information. They see the kids' homes, know which ones that are malnourished, et cet. Even visiting our kids this month we don't know their grades lol. But we tell them to work with CI and definitely take advantage of the programs! That's probably the most encouraging thing that can be done. :)

Thank you for your thoughts 👍.  It should be no great mystery why I brought up the topic: pulling info from the kids thru the response letters is not all that easy. Perhaps, my interest is really more about the progression of the kids in school, seeing how their interests/aspirations develop with a short personal statement on how school went the previous year. Were there difficulties. May even be more important when they enter 10th grade or as they near CI graduation. We just might get a thoughtful answer since CI is inquiring. But the subject is wide open and possibly hard to frame. Also, cases across the countries CI operates in will be very different as poverty levels could be poles apart. This explains why it’s hard to implement. .. I think i’m putting it out there/room for potential annual report improvement. Have we reached peak effectiveness?While it is important to know about the area/country’s poverty conditions, I am not so sure I need this as part of the annual report. I think it belongs more to the welcome packet when one initially signs up to support a kid. But that’s just me. I’m sure many planning took place just to get that protocol itself. Thanks again folks for the input!

I agree with rgfischoff 100%. If my kids want to tell me something, they will. If they don't, they won't. I won't ask for more administrative burdens to be put on the staff in the field.

I agree with with you and rgfischoff, except when it comes to making large donations. When it comes to large monetary donations for things like IGPs, home improvements, or educational and medical EGs I want all the information I can get.  CI does excellent with most things.  I wonder if the grade level of the child  could be included in the family report.  It  would tell me if my sponsored child is progressing each year, has passed their exams, is being held back, is attending school, or may need my help, ect. I know that sponsors can request an educational report, but that doesn't always give sponsors the full picture. Many sponsors don't ask for an educational  report because they don't realise there is a problem.  Would this be a violation of their privacy? 

Thank you barbmc. I agree with what you just wrote. I don t always request an education EG because if I request it it means I will provide it.. and because I send only once a few EGs per year, they are mostly "free" EGs.. However if I would know a child has  school related dificulties I would decide to do that.. I mostly trust the letters of the children telling me if they past to the next year and they had good numbers of that they are working hard.. I do not always know when they will go to the next grade  because of the different dates for  holidays. So if CI would write something on their repport telling us that extra help is needed, or that school goes fine that would be great..

Those are all great ideas! I would be all for receiving information updates like that.

Old thread, but why not...

I think the best way to get information about a child's educational situation is to ask for an "educational report/memo". (As long as you're willing to help with the costs, since there is an implicit understanding that if you ask for a memo about a child's educational needs then you are willing to help.)

Like some of the sponsors who commented in 2020, I also don't see the need to have this information on the Family Record, because then CI would have to get that information every year from every single child in the program, which would be a huge task. For more involved sponsors who really want to do extra to help a child (probably only a fraction of the total) a combination of letters + an educational memo should do the trick.

But yeah, for sponsors who are not sure if they can afford to help and just want to know how the child is doing, there is no easy solution.

I've found that if I have a budget, I can share that with the CI team so they have that information when they send for the report. If I'm asking for a report, I usually acknowledge that I'm likely going to be spending a chunk of change (for all nine of mine, I expect that educational costs for the full year can range from $200 - $800, depending on the age, location, and individual needs of the child - I also haven't yet encountered a situation where the child is going to a private school). If you wanted to do something specific, such as purchase a tablet for a child, you could express this and the team can get an estimate for a more specific need.