Thank you! Together We Safeguard Your Sponsored Child on Social Media

Safeguarding all children and young people and promoting their welfare is always at the heart of what we do at Plan International. Together we are responsible for the safety of your sponsored child.  Therefore, we are asking you to join us to protect the sponsored children in the online world.

Technology makes it easier to keep in touch with friends and family but it poses a threat to children’s safety. At Plan International, we are committed to protecting children from any forms of harm and risks online. Apart from providing guidance for staff responsible for managing social media channels and guidelines for all staff on their use of personal social media accounts, we have also developed the Global Safeguarding Policy, which is an extended version of our Child Safeguarding Policy, it applies to all our staff, associates (including but not limited to volunteers, sponsors and donors, and service providers) and visitors to ensure that children and programme participants feel safe and protected from harm, abuse, exploitation, or any other forms of violence.

Sponsored children look forward to hearing from you, and it is important that the communications are through our supervised channels, i.e., by exchanging letters. Through supervised channels, every risk children may encounter upon their contact with us can be minimised.

So, what should you do if you receive a friend request or other direct communications from your sponsored child or the family? Please do not respond to the message and report to us immediately. We will contact our colleagues from the Country Offices to follow up and check if your sponsored child is safe. All sponsored children and their families will do the same when receiving friend requests from their sponsors.

Sponsoring a child is a life-changing experience and it is a wonderful news to share with your friends and family. However, before sharing any information about your sponsored child, please be reminded that your sponsored child has only consented to their photos being seen by you. Therefore, please don’t share their photos on any social media platforms. You can only share your sponsored child’s first name, country and age but not any other details which cause them to be identified and located. This prevents unscrupulous persons  from collecting children’s personal information for unlawful purposes, threatening the safety of the sponsored children.

Thank you for committing and contributing to a child-friendly environment where children and programme participants feel respected, supported, safe and protected.