Issues in Historic Child Sponsorship

Abstract

Arguing that children serve the international humanitarian community as ‘embodiments of a basic goodness’ and ‘symbols of world harmony’, the authors of Chapter 4 note that child sponsorship positions children in ‘explosive moral terrain.’ The authors explore the emergence of concern within and without historic Child Sponsorship organizations over traditional forms of child sponsorship as they relate to beneficiaries, donors and the sponsorship organizations themselves. In doing so the authors argue that programs staff in leading Child Sponsorship INGOs have been instrumental in moving Child Sponsorship interventions from orphan care, to family helper programs and beyond to pooled funding for service provision, holistic child development, community development activities and advocacy.