Last chance at sponsorship Cancel Title is required

Floating this concept on the board for thoughts. At some point children on the wait list drop off the wait list when they are nearing the end of the program. This happens somewhere between 17 and their graduation. I was thinking they may graduate the program perhaps never hearing from a sponsor. So I have been considering changing that for at least one child. Time may only permit a few letter exchanges and I am planning to send them at least an EG for graduation. I think it will make a difference for them to receive letters of encouragement and recognition of their graduation from the program. If there were other sponsors interested in participating perhaps this could be done for a few children.

Ways to participate: One could do the same or cover some monthly sponsorship / EGs all within the framework of CI. I have covered monthly sponsorship and sent EGs to children sponsored by others so I know this is possible to do. It did require me to call CI to accomplish.

Step 1:   Sponsor a child that has aged off of the wait list. Ricardo added March 28th, 2019. Family of four, most needy, single parent household 'mother'. He aged off the wait list and has been without a sponsor for several years.

Step 2:   Write him a letter. Today March 29th, 2019 Ricardo showed up in my account. I have sent him an introduction letter. March 30th, 2019 added an EG into the works to cover educational and related expenses. Time is to short to find out if he has any needs to finish school. March 31st, DP sent.

Step 3: The wait begins.  

I'd like to hear CI's reasoning on the decision to pull a youth off the waiting list. I don't understand why.  What is it about the system that brings CI to decide to take anyone off the Waiting for a Sponsor List , except, of course, those who have turned 19.  I have thought about this too, Frosty. Say, if a "most needy" youth is 17, that means close to  TWO YEARS   LEFT -- ample time for an active sponsor to make a big difference with supportive letters and EG's.  Personally, I was surprised I couldn't choose to sponsor someone close to graduation, for instance:  an 18 year-old who is red-flagged as economically more challenged than others.  I'd welcome that option and that challenge. ( FYI : I only choose children/youths who are listed as "most needy.")

I think CI takes a youth off the waiting list when they turn 18 not 17.  Anyone can go to the waiting list (age 16+), see every youths birthday, and sponsor a youth who will soon be turning 18. I don't think it's unreasonable for CI to  remove  youths from their waiting list who are within months  (less than one year) of their graduation. 

I believe they are taken off when they turned 18. I started sponsored Anyira when she was 17 years old and stayed with her until she graduated. I do believe people should take a chance on older youth

I share your sentiments and that is why I sought out one of these children and sponsored them.

I am sure CI will get back to you after the weekend.

Sharing what I considered prior to sponsoring a last chance child. It is most likely for the children and sponsors. Using the child I sponsored as an example, he was on the wait list for years writing to a sponsor and never hearing back. Most older children have had several sponsors. As they are nearing graduation they would be tasked to write a letter to a new sponsor that may never respond given that 71.8% of sponsors only write to their children according to this study https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/670138  The risk for the sponsor is that some children drop out of the program prior to aging out. It is gust a higher chance that the child selected would drop out. There are also the administrative aspects of short term sponsorship. Then there are also system performance aspects of returning results to users in timely.  

I design large computing systems and noticed like in Logan's run older children were not present on the waiting list so I asked if they aged off as I suspected and that is what happens. This thread is more like a blog proving out an approach to addressing the complexities of this issue and if anyone would like to read the solution approach outline I will post it.

I asked CI and was told it happens around when they turn 17 and if I wanted to sponsor a child in this situation I could call CI and they could assist. I called CI and they gave me several to consider that have aged off the waiting list. I picked the one I thought was most needy and sponsored him. He has about 9 months left before graduating the program.

Currently a global search for children 16+ shows 3 children are on the waiting list that are 17. All 3 just turned 17 in March. You will not find any children that are 17 with birthdays in other months because they have aged off the wait list. 

"As they are nearing graduation they would be tasked to write a letter to a new sponsor that may never respond given that 17% of sponsors only write to their children."


Very good point, Frosty; didn't really think of that!

I asked CI and was told it happens around when they turn 17 which could explain your case of sponsoring a 17 year old. I am also talking currently as things change over time. I did ask CI to review my posting as I did not want to miss-state anything. I added some clarifications as a result but no corrections. I am sure they will comment on Monday.

 CI has changed it to seventeen? I'm not surprised that there are many administrative costs and additional  aspects involved in such  short term sponsorships for CI.  Sounds to me like you've nailed them!   
 

FYI  I did see some 17 years on the waitlist to day but one of them just had a birthday

True, Joaniedear, there is one Zambian who is 17 - his birthday was yesterday .  There is one in Honduras, his birthday was also recent,  March 16th .  Seventeen year-olds, yes, they just turned 17 .  I checked Mexico, no 17 year-olds, I checked Ecuador, no 17 year-olds.  Looks to be accurate that soon after the seventeenth birthday, CI removes their listing, but we'll wait to hear the official answer on Monday. Thank you to everyone for their interest in this subject.

rgfischoff said: True, Joaniedear, there is one Zambian who is 17 - his birthday was yesterday .

Rachel, I was thinking of sponsoring him, but I was planning to wait until my oldest is 19 in June.

I, too, have noticed very few 17 year olds, and a LOT more younger kids, on the list lately. 

Sponsoring youth is SO rewarding too, and I have two in their final year and planned to spend more time with them this year!

Debbie talked about "cycles" in below tread..

https://www.children.org/MySocialCenter/messageboard/!content/q-and-a-with-children-international/most-needy-and-waiting

Well, it seems I have some 'splaining to do: 

1.  We never stop looking for sponsors for the kids on our program, even the older kids.  To be fair, we don’t always  place information about kids over the age of 17 (18+) on our website, because most people don't want to help older kids because they want to help the same youth for many years. If a sponsor wants to sponsor a youth that is 17+, they can contact the Care Team and we'll do our best to find just the right youth for them to help. 

2. Remember, the kids on the website waiting list, isn't all the kids needing sponsors. Our pool of waiting children are marked in different ways to find them sponsors. For example, some are marked to show on the web, some to replace kids who leave the program, and others for allocation over the phone or by mail. The kids stay marked for a certain period of time, and if we haven't found a sponsor, then they cycle to another marking.  So, not every child waiting for a sponsor shows on the web and, if you do a search for specific criteria it will only search for the kids who are marked to display on the web. 

3. I have no idea where the 17% comes from, as we're not tracking exactly how many sponsors write to their kids.  Of course, we wish all sponsors would, but we don't spend a lot of our resources on keeping track of those kind of things, as we want resources to go to the programs for the kids. 

Thank you Debbie, you have graciously explained the system and the reasons for the system. I have copied and pasted your answer into my CI file -- so I will be reminded that 17+ youths are available for sponsorship. I add a factor that no one is mentioning:  Most know I'm partial to choosing older children/youths, special needs cases and most needy situations.  The additional truth is  I'm 72 -- I don't think in terms of sponsoring a two year-old child all the way through CI's program; I don't envision celebrating their graduation.  Yes, I am an organic vegetarian with a treadmill, but I am also mindful that no one in my family has lived longer than 85 years  (I have money in my will bequeathed to CI sponsored children/youths in the event I leave life unexpectedly ) Some of us desire a complete sponsorship experience for ourselves and the sponsored child/youth -- I know that a tot in the CI program will easily outlive me... Moreover, I am committed  to adding  value to the CI experience of a youth no matter how short their remaining program-time is.

Thanks debbies , the original intent of my post was to share this, sponsor one of these youths and hope to inspire others to do the same.

How many youths are there currently in this older youth classification that CI could use some help sponsoring?

My wish list item for CI: A box to check on the search page to include short term sponsorship in the results. 

@rgfischcoff: You are a gem!   

@Frosty:  I really don't know how many youth are 17+ in need of sponsorship.   For your wish list item, please share that on the website feedback form, that goes straight to the marketing and it teams :-)

Thank debbies, I have followed up with the site feedback as suggested.

Regarding percentage of sponsors that write. The previous source I used quoted this study but transposed the percentage. It is actually 71.8%. I have corrected my post.

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/670138

The paper by Wydick et al refers to one particular programme called Compassion International: “All children sponsored through Compassion write letters several times per year to their sponsor, and most receive correspondence from their sponsor (71.8 percent in our study)”. Another study from 2008 (“The Development Impact of Child Sponsorship”) found that “only 30—35% of sponsored children receive letters and gifts from their sponsors.” It concludes that the sponsor letter-writing varies between programmes, so in absence of any hard data we can use the trusted method of guessing :-)

Hmm, the point I was trying to convey was that not all sponsors write their children. Perhaps 'Studies have shown that not all sponsors write their children' foot-noting the two studies referenced previously.

Foot-note to self: Avoid stating statistics in posts. I have an extensive background in statistical studies and decades of dealing with them but I still fall into this trap once in awhile.

Please don't let this distract from the overall intent of my post. Inspire others to seek out and sponsor these 17+ year old youths not searchable on the site.

@Frosty I sponsored Anyira for 1 1/2 years I started sponsoring her at 17 years of age, because I felt the need to sponsor her. I was smittened by her beautiful smile, then saw just the mom was in the home. It was a joy to sponsor this beautiful young lady. She was recently my first sponsored child to graduate. Which was very exciting and extremely proud of her. Right now I can't add any more kids 5 is my limit with working part time and going to school. But another point I want to make even the 15 year olds need wonderful sponsors that why I sponsor teenage girls. Let me tell you these teenagers are the best letter writers I have, I feel like you can talk to them about more topics

@joaniedear,

I too sponsor what I would call youths. They write good letters. I agree one has to balance things with the number of children one sponsors to be able to provide whatever level of support one has personally defined. I also agree there are other youths on the site to sponsor. The thing that compelled me to create this post were the youth that can't be seen. A search of the kids today shows all 3 youths 17+ got sponsored so there are none on the site. What one can't see is that there are many youths 17+ in need of sponsors. I just think all the children should be afforded the same opportunity and to do so they need to be visible on the site regardless of what cycle they are in.

If there are children not receiving letters, due to not having a sponsor or one who writes at all, then that is an opportunity for CI to assign them a writer. Or if they will graduate without a letter, etc. I wish I could afford to sponsor more, but I would write in a heartbeat. Other organizations do this. It has been a blessing to encourage kids with words. And pretty neat to see the organizations value letter writing as much as I do, that it is not just about money, but hope and intangible encouragement, which is priceless I think!

@auntiemay, The CI systems seems to be centered around a child being sponsored to enable most things like even writing a youth.

However, you bring up an interesting perspective that perhaps CI could do something. The only thing I can think of would be to provide a reduced monthly sponsorship rate for these hard to place youths that are no longer searchable on the site. The main point from your post is that perhaps CI could assist in enabling things to make your wish come true.

That's a clever idea to offer a reduced monthly fee for children who are harder to get sponsors for - since CI will provide benefits no matter what, this could get some money coming in instead of none. As for letters, I can see the issues. What if I haven't written my child, but start and there receiving letters from someone else? Would a sponsor need to agree to someone else writing? There's also a cost associated with translating and sending these letters, again with no fees being paid

Remember tho', just because the kids are not on the website, we are still looking for sponsors for them through other avenues. 

@debbies, so CI would not consider offering the board a lower monthly rate for the board to sponsor theses specific youths? Each one sponsored here would free up a spot for an easier to place child.

Hey, suggest it through the website feedback form :-)

Thanks debbies, I submitted via the site feedback as suggested.

So far site feedback responded with an email outlining that one can search for 17+ youth on the site and provided direction on how to do so. Must have overlooked the part about ones removed from the site.