However, the ELCA's worldwide contact with partner churches, relief and development agencies, missionaries and, most importantly, local people themselves teaches that there may be more effective ways to help. Disadvantages of child sponsorship. This approach is based on partnerships, cost effectiveness and accountability. When one child receives special attention such as letters, gifts, clothing, education and medical attention, other members of the family and community may become envious. Parents may feel humiliated when reminded that they are unable to provide for their child.
Sponsorships encourage dependence.
Sponsored children may begin to feel that their well-being depends on the gifts of donors. When support ends as the child reaches adulthood, he or she may fall back into poverty, often having gained little knowledge of self-sufficiency from the experience. Sponsorship programs tend to perpetuate stereotypes about people in other countries. Advertisements designed to stir our compassion and motivate our giving may depict children as helpless victims whose parents are unable to cope. These ads focus on one child or one family, rather than on the causes of their poverty and the strength of their communities in making changes.