Visiting several kids on one trip. Cancel Title is required

I'm thinking about planning a trip to the Philippines in 2019 to visit the four kids I sponsor there (three - so far - through CI and one through a different organization). I know several sponsors have done multi-kid visits in the past. How difficult is that to set up? Are there any tips or advice that anyone cares to offer? How many days should I expect to set aside for such a trip?

Many many more questions to follow....

I only have 2 kids, and my multi-kid visit was not hard to set up. The hardest part was doing the phone call to the in-country CI office a week ahead of time to confirm that you're coming. I couldn't get my phone to connect to Zambia much at all no matter what I tried, and I think I actually spent about $40 USD buying international minutes trying to connect. Luckily CI took care of it after I told them of my issues. CI ​initially planned for me to visit both my ​boys together on the same day, but I preferred one day per child. They were able to accommodate that, however I'm not sure how able they are to do that if you have more children. I'm sure the country you're visiting may affect that too (if they have numerous sponsors coming to visit, if they have staff shortages, etc. Zambia is the least sponsor-visited country, I believe). There certainly isn't anything wrong with visiting multiple children in one day, it just wasn't my preference. If you plan to invite siblings/extended family to join your outings, you may be asked to pay for an additional van rental, or you can just choose to go with however many people fit in the CI van. Our van was nice sized, but was not a bus. There was the driver and driver's passenger, a middle bench where we sat, and the back which had two benches going perpendicular to my bench where the kids and their family sat. I didn't spend long on my trip, I think we got there on a Saturday and left the next Thursday afternoon. Sunday we visited an area market, Monday we visited an animal refuge, Tuesday I met Happy, Wednesday I met Mathews, and Thursday we went home. I'm sure you could spend as much or as little time as you want, as long as you have at least a day to visit your kids. Be sure you choose a day that isn't a weekend because CI is closed. Also don't choose a national holiday as CI offices may be closed/families may be out of town. CI can help you with that if you ask. 

Thanks for the info!

There is quite a bit of information on this site under the title "make a difference" (at the top) and then click on "visit your child."  All the best.

Ditto to everything already said.  I visited Guatemala and wanted to see my families on separate days, but they were unable to do that because it was three days already to travel to three different cities that I sponsored in, so the two families in the same city had to be visited on the same day.

One big question is whether your kids are all in the same region of the Philippines as CI serves four (I think?) areas?  If the kids aren't, you may have to get yourself between the different areas and you'll have to leave time for that.  Having said that, I've now visited my kids in Guatemala twice and, the DR and the Philippines once - all completely worth the effort it took to plan them out!

Hi Bob,

CI Manila and Quezon City are now combined which makes things easier. You need to provide CI Team at least a month heads up so they can coordinate with each office. I set up lunch for several teens at the mall followed by food and clothes shopping. CI has vans that can fit 12 to 15 people. It's easier seeing several kids at one time. The challenge will be if you want to visit some of their homes which would need to be done one on one. Seeing their humble homes can be very eye opening and if time allows I encourage you to visit. Bicol/Legazpi is a 10 hour ride South of Manila. We took a one hour plan ride. Sadly, before touching down in Bicol down our plane had to go back in the air because the pilot could not see the run way due to fog. We ended up losing a nights stay in Bicol and took an early flight the next morning. In Bicol we met my 4 teens in the same mall. Now that I think about it CI was able to stop by two of our teens home because the homes were situated on our route (bonus).  Like yourself I sponsor 3 teens with another organization in Baguio, Philippines (8 Hours) North of Manila.  Seeing you have the sponsorship bug you may have 8 or more kids by year 2019 Lol!! My trip was October 2015. Feel free to private message me on my wall if you have additional questions. At minimum set aside one day for each location - if memory serves me correctly the CI Teams cannot meet on Sundays. 

Are there no other acceptable options but going around with a vanload of people, though? Ones that would ruffle no one's feathers? To me, a child visit means spending the day with the child, a CI staff member who'd also serve as an interpreter, and of course the driver. The sponsor can naturally meet the rest of the family and bring gifts, but they (and numerous staff members) would not join the tours. From sponsor visit stories, I also get the impression that the sponsor is the star, tailed by a dozen family members and as many people from CI. Surely that isn't the intention? A small group would also cost less for the sponsor - not a minor consideration.

I believe a guardian has to accompany the CI staff member and sponsor on the visit.  Not sure if the sponsor has the ability to ask for the child, CI staff member, and guardian only or if additional family members are up to the sponsored child or CI.

It's always interesting to hear about sponsor visits, but the best way to learn about what you own individual visit will be like is to contact the Care Team. They can provide you with exact details and costs, which are different for each visit, even if you are visiting a country another sponsor has visited. 

One thing I can tell you is that we need more than one month's notice, especially if you have multiple children in multiple communities. That takes a lot of juggling family schedules, transportation, etc. 

Visits typically include the driver, a translator, the youth, their volunteer and a guardian. If there is a non-school age child at home, this child will be included because they can't be left alone at home.  

Some sponsors want to include all the family members, but this is their choice, and it does require more planning on the part of the staff, and many times requires additional funding for transportation logistics. 

As mentioned, we do have basic info on our website site under the title "Make A Difference" (at the top of the page) and then click on "Visit Your Child."

Our Care Team looks forward to hearing from you!

I visited my 8 sponsored kids in January/February 2017, and was able to have a separate day with each of my kids in the Manila/Quezon City area, but had to combine visits with my kids in the Bicol (Legaspi and Tabaco) region.   Three on one day, two the next day.  I felt I didn't get to give much individual attention to these kids, especially while shopping.  There was a CI staff person for each child who could translate, plus the mothers and 2 young siblings, so the van was full.  No option to have the whole family come.  Be sure you don't go during the most rainy season.  
Give CI as much notice as possible.  

Thank you for the info!

Bob, if you go to my profile page and click under "My Stories", you can read all the stories I posted about visiting my kids in 2016.     

Hey, Bob! I am a veteran of many multi-child sponsor visits, and the pros and cons are basically what you'd think they'd be. When visiting more than one ​child at a time, you have to be careful to give all of them equal amounts of attention - if you sit with one kid on the van ride, sit with the other child's family during lunch, etc. It's easy to feel like you're spread too thin, but I've always done okay juggling multiple kids during a visit. I wouldn't go past three kids at a time (not counting siblings), unless your combined visit includes other sponsors w/their kids. 

The advantages to multi-child visits are that it seems - at least in my experience - that the kids enjoy having other kids to interact with during the ​outing, especially if you sponsor kids of similar ages. It all depends on a child's personality, but visits can be overwhelming (especially the first time), and aside from being able to play together, a bigger group means less awkward focus on one "special" child. Your kid might not want to be the center of attention for five hours, because that's a lot of pressure to be cute! Also, I often see the moms bonding and chatting with each other during multi-child visits. It can be equally awkward to be a tag-along parent in these situations, and the moms seem to like having company.

In my case, I tend to visit our kids again and again, and so the same families are coming together to mingle siblings and form lasting friendships. We've had some pretty massive groups before, but we always have a wonderful time!