What do sponsored child know about their sponsor? Cancel Title is required

When we sponsor a child we get photos from their entire time in the program, their family income, the names of their parents and siblings, etc. I was wondering if the children are told anything about who sponsored them beyond a personal letter from the sponsor. Are they told any details or just that they have a sponsor?

JeffreyB, the children are notified that they have a sponsor, and are asked to write a Welcome letter. They do not receive any information on the sponsor other than their name. It is up to their sponsor to write and introduce themselves, and establish a relationship with the child. I believe this may be due to the fact that the majority of sponsors never send a letter to their sponsored child, and that many sponsored children have several sponsors as they go through the program. That is why writing a letter is so very important to the children. One of my sponsored children, Flor, when she was graduating, told me that although she greatly appreciated the EG's we had sent over the years, the thing she was going to miss most was the letters that we had sent. She told me that the letters made her feel special...and she loved the fact that we kept writing her! We had been her 7th sponsors, and she had never received a letter before! Luckily, we were able to sponsor her son, so we still get to write letters to her!

It really only starts with your name and grows from that based on what you provide. My sponsor children have said the same thing. They are very appreciative of the EGs but correspondence is cherished. When we visited them one of the moms explained to us that coming to visit was more important than the things we brought. Their children could not sleep the night before and got up early and took turns watching for the CI van to come. Explains why the children tend to fall asleep on the way home at the end of the day. Sadly a lot of sponsors miss out as they never write the children they sponsor.

In your opinion, what is more important - to sponsor more kids or send more EGs? If someone has a limited amount of money to spare, do you think it's better to sponsor another few more kids or to limit the number of sponsored kids but to send more EGs to them? Which will benefit the kids more?

StellaJeff, I think the most important thing to consider when sponsoring a child is to answer the question: Can I commit to this child? Can I afford the monthly payment? Can I commit to writing letters to him/her and encourage them to stay in school, to dare them to dream of a better future and to be the best boy/girl that they can be. I was quite shocked when I found out that a child that I sponsored at age 14, had already had 7 different sponsors and had never received a single letter! I worry that the kids who don't get letters feel inadequate somehow. Luckily, they still have access to all that CI offers. Children International is unique in that they do allow you to do more if you want to by sending extra gifts and packages, but to CI, that is not necessary. By being a sponsor, you are providing a promise of a better future by allowing access to their centers and to their programs. 
So, then the question is do I want to do more? One of my main goals is to ensure that my children have adequate funds to attend school each year. Besides that, I will admit that I send extra gifts because it does help the families buy needed food, hygiene items and school supplies, and because it gives me more correspondence from my kids! I love the extra photos and the chance to see additional family members, a glimpse of their home and what they may buy. (Before the pandemic, some of my families spent their money more on clothing, bicycles and blankets, pots and pans or dressers). 
Other sponsors have been able to help their children build a new home, supplied money to help the parents start a business, funded their child to go to a private school or college, helped provide for needed medications, adaptive equipment, braces to improve their smile, and even surgeries to correct vision or cleft palates. This could easily overwhelm someone, if they think they need to do this for each child they sponsor. 
So, I think it is up to each individual sponsor. Every sponsor has value to the child or children they sponsor. I have been fortunate to meet many of the children I sponsor and am always so amazed how excited they are to meet us and spend the day. And every child I have ever met, has told my husband and I that although they love getting gifts, the things that make them the happiest are when we come to visit and when they get letters!  Many times, the children will run to their room, and get out a shoe box or a large manila envelope, and show us that they have kept each letter and re-read them many times! (And I was worried that our letters were boring!) I love the connection that we are able to have with each child...they are all so different, with different circumstances, different needs and different levels of communication. We don't have any of our own children, so these sweet, wonderful and loving children allow us to feel like their favorite aunt and uncle, and we try to make sure that each one knows they are special!

Thanks for replying, liro456. I am asking not because I cannot afford the monthly payments for the long run but because by giving EGs, it means I will not be able to sponsor more kids. In fact, when I looked at the amount of EGs I sent this month, it's enough to pay for a year for another 3 kids! So it makes me wonder which is a better choice? Sending more EGs to my existing kids or using that money to sponsor more kids? I wanted to help as many children as I can. I guess I will send birthday EGs to all but year end EGs will have to be reserved for the ones who need more help.

I can relate to your question... I am a numbers person so I have a percentage of my income put into an account. On the other side I figured out what I wanted to do for the youths I sponsored because doing too much and building dependency and expectations is not helpful. I left a little extra room for special circumstances in the budget. So basically what is going into my charity account drives how many children I sponsor based on what I have committed to do for each of them. When enough money builds up in the account I send EGs of $50 or $100+ to mix things up. I also avoid sending EGs around Birthdays and Christmas so that I don't compete with CI and the parents. I contribute to the CI birthday and Christmas funds for those.

Thanks Frosty! That's exactly what I'm going to do from now on. I also have a percentage of my monthly income set aside for charity and I also do not want to create too much dependency. But I didnt think about sending $50 instead of $100! Except that means I also should not send on Christmas and birthdays. I have another 13 sponsored kids with World Vision but they don't encourage extra donations so I have no problem with those. Thanks so much for helping me get a clearer idea.