Questions supporters ask before they give

What does my sponsorship actually pay for?

Weekly Bible teaching in a child's own village, the lesson materials they keep, and the trained local leader who teaches them. Sponsorship here funds a children's church rather than an institution — there is no facility to maintain and nobody flown in from overseas to run it.

Do you run an orphanage or a children's home?

No. Thailand Kids runs no orphanage, no boarding home and no residential programme. Every child we serve sleeps in their own home, with their own family. The church comes to the village rather than the child being moved to the church.

Who actually teaches the children?

A leader from the children's own community, trained at one of our training centers. They speak the dialect, they know the families, and they are still there the following year. A sponsored child is not taught by a visitor passing through.

What is the difference between the three levels?

$25 Seed Sponsor funds one child's monthly materials, with a quarterly impact letter, the child's name in our prayer guide, and an annual report.

$35 Church Planter is full sponsorship of one named child — their photo and story, an annual personal update letter, your name in the church planting record, and a Certificate of Sponsorship.

$100 Leader Builder fully funds one local leader's training, with personal updates from that leader, a priority invitation to visit Thailand, and a named dedication in a new church plant.

The full list is on Sponsor a Child.

Is $25 a month really enough to matter?

Yes. It covers one child's materials for a month, every month. The smallest level is not the lesser gift — a gift that continues for years is worth more to a village than a larger one that stops after three months. Give at the level you can hold.

Can I sponsor more than one child?

Yes. Email [email protected] when you set it up, so each gift is matched to its own child rather than recorded as one larger gift.

Can my church sponsor together rather than one household?

Yes, and there is a tier built for it. A congregation can walk with one village family as a Church Family Partner at $250 a month, or fund an entire church plant from $5,000. See Plant a Church.

What happens after I give?

The Foursquare Foundation emails your receipt straight away — that part is immediate. A personal welcome from Thailand Kids follows, naming your level and telling you exactly what will arrive and when.

Your child is then matched. Matching waits on a current parental consent, so it is deliberate rather than instant — and your welcome email will say what to expect before you start wondering.

How soon will I hear about my child?

Your welcome email will say what is coming and roughly when. The pack itself names your child, the village church they attend, the leader who teaches them, and how to pray for them by name — none of which is assembled automatically.

If a consent has lapsed, the pack waits until it is renewed. A slow welcome pack usually means the safeguarding checks are doing their job.

Can I choose my child?

No, and that is deliberate. Children are matched from villages where a leader is already teaching, rather than presented as a gallery of photographs to browse. It keeps the choosing with the ministry and the family rather than with the catalogue.

What will I receive during the year?

Seed Sponsors receive a quarterly impact letter and an annual report, and their child's name goes into the prayer guide.

Church Planters receive that plus their child's photo and story, an annual personal update letter, and a Certificate of Sponsorship.

Leader Builders receive personal updates from their leader as the training progresses, and a priority invitation to visit Thailand.

Everything is written by the field team, not by a marketing department.

Can I write to my child?

Not yet. Today updates travel one way — from the village to you. Anything travelling the other way has to clear the same safeguarding checks in the other direction, and we would rather say so plainly than promise a correspondence we cannot yet run well.

Can I visit the children I support?

Teams do come. A visit is arranged with the ministry and the local church — never independently, and never unannounced at a child's home. Leader Builder sponsors receive a priority invitation. Write to us if you would like to talk it through.

Is my gift tax-deductible?

Yes. Thailand Kids is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and your receipt is issued by the Foursquare Foundation. It is valid for a United States tax deduction.

Why does the donate button take me to a different website?

Because Thailand Kids does not handle your card. Giving is processed on give.foursquare.org, the Foursquare Foundation's own secure platform. We never see, store or touch your payment details.

Can I cancel or change my amount?

Yes, at any time, from the same platform you gave on. If you do, tell us as well — not so we can talk you out of it, but so a child is not left mid-year without the ministry knowing.

What happens if a payment fails or I miss a month?

Nothing, for a month. Cards expire and banks decline things, and most of it corrects itself. After two missed months you will get a short personal note asking whether everything is all right — no guilt — and your child stays yours while it is sorted out.

What if my child moves away or leaves the programme?

You hear from us personally, by name, before any routine update would tell you. We then offer you another child. Either way your giving keeps the leader and the village children's church running.

What is the Thailand Kids Shield?

Our name for the one standard every photograph and story passes through before it reaches you: written consent from the parent, renewed each year; every image altered so the child cannot be identified or traced; first name only; the province, never the village. An image that has been through it may carry the shield mark, or may not — the mark is a label, the protection is the work. The full explanation is on the sponsorship page.

Will I get a photograph of my child?

At the $35 level and above, yes — once a signed parental consent is on file and current, and the image has been through the Thailand Kids Shield. If the consent has expired, the photograph waits until it is renewed rather than being sent anyway.

Why won't you tell me which village my child lives in?

Because a named village, a first name and a photograph together are enough to find one specific child. Location is shared at province level. It is the single most common thing sponsors ask us to bend, and the one we will not.

Can I share my child's photo on social media?

No. Every sponsor is told in writing that images are for their own encouragement and prayer — a household and a prayer list, not a public feed. Receiving a photograph is not permission to publish it.

What happens if a parent withdraws consent?

Updates stop immediately, and the child keeps their place in the children's church. Nothing about a child's welcome depends on their being photographed. The full policy is on Child Protection.

How long has Thailand Kids been running?

Since August 2024, when the decision was made to focus the work on children. The founders had already been serving in northern Thailand for about four years before that, but Thailand Kids itself — the children's-church ministry — dates from 2024.

Are you tied to one denomination?

No. Thailand Kids is interdenominational and partners with any church that believes the Bible. Gifts are processed through the Foursquare Foundation.

Where do you work?

Across 21 Thai provinces, concentrated in the north, including hill tribe communities such as the Karen and Akha. Children are taught in their own language in their own villages.

How can my church or organisation get involved?

Three ways: plant a church, become a partner organisation running the Thailand Kids platform with your own material or ours, or train as a certified contractor supporting partner organisations.

My question isn't here.

Email us and ask. Questions that come up more than once end up on this page.