Protecting children is our highest priority
We believe that children should be known, loved and protected. As an expression of that belief, Compassion places the care and protection of children above all other considerations. Because children living in extreme poverty are among the most vulnerable in the world, Compassion has established clear policies that are designed to promote the safety and protection of every child in our programme.
Compassion’s approach to child protection is based on the following convictions
How Compassion protects children
Our approach to child protection begins with preventing abuse. When a child is abused, we intervene quickly and seek to provide restoration and healing to children impacted by abuse and alerting the relevant local authorities. Compassion also believes in empowering children to be active agents in their own protection and advocacy.
To accomplish these goals, Compassion provides:
Your role as a sponsor in protecting children
As a sponsor, you are part of Compassion’s movement to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.
If your sponsored child says something in a letter that makes you feel abuse is happening or likely to happen, please contact us via email childprotection@compassion.se or call us at +46 823 62 00.
Communicating with your sponsored child
Being involved in the sponsor-child communication process allows us to help protect your privacy and your sponsored child’s privacy. It also allows us to help you navigate cross-cultural sensitivities. For example, we can help you avoid unknowingly writing something inappropriate or offensive.
Communication guidelines:
Visiting you sponsored child
We require background checks through extracts from the criminal record for all who wish to visit one of our Compassion centres or meet their sponsored child. This applies to all visitors, including donors, sponsors, artist, pastors, Compassion employees and Board members.
Our child protection policy guides interactions between sponsors and children occurring on both group trips and individual visits. Any visitor who will interact with Compassion-assisted children must have approved arrangements through Compassion. Compassion’s centres will not accept unapproved visitors. This helps us to protect the children in the Compassion programmes from potential abuse.
All visitors must sign Compassion’s child protection policy and agree to abide by it before a visit can be arranged. Compassion reserves the right to deny a visit request that would not be in the best interest of the child.
A sponsor will never be left alone with a sponsored child. When a sponsor meets their sponsored child, it might feel natural to share contact information or to request such information from the child or the child’s family. However, any direct communication not facilitated by us could potentially expose the children or sponsors to unnecessary risk. As a result, personal contact information cannot be exchanged.