General questions

How many children are in the NPH family?

Currently, we have over 2,500 fully supported children and young people in 9 different countries. We also support over 3,800 children from low-income households, who attend our NPH schools and benefit from our community outreach programmes.

Children at NPH Honduras
2 girls at NPH in Honduras

Where are the NPH programmes located?

  • Bolivia – San Ignacio de Sara, near the community of Portachuelo, 50 miles northwest of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
  • Dominican Republic – San Pedro de Macorís.
  • El Salvador – Santa Ana.
  • Guatemala – Parramos, near Chimaltenango, northwest of Guatemala City.
  • Honduras – the home is 22 miles northeast of Tegucigalpa. There are also student homes, our disabled children’s home in Tegucigalpa and a soup kitchen in nearby Talanga.
  • Haiti – the home is 25 miles south of Port-au-Prince, and the paediatric hospital, public health and disabled outreach programs are in Tabarre. The home administration and visitor centre are located in Pétionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince.
  • Mexico – some of the older children attend school and live in Cuernavaca, Monterrey or Mexico City, but most of the children live in Miacatlán, 80 miles south of Mexico City.
  • Nicaragua – currently has three locations: the main location at Jinotope, southwest of Managua, as well as San Jorge and Ometepe Island on Lake Nicaragua.
  • Peru – Our home is in San Vicente de Cañete, 2 hours south of Lima.

What does Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos mean?

Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos is Spanish for “Our Little Brothers and Sisters”.

Can the children be adopted?

NPH goes to great lengths to enable children to be with their own families when this is in the best interest of the child, including through our community and family strengthening programmes and our NPH OneFamily programme. However, where circumstances make this impossible (e.g. no living relatives, ill health, abuse), national laws entrust NPH with the temporary custody of the children.

In some countries where we work, authorities additionally declare children in an “adoptive state,” meaning, these select children could be adopted. This currently applies to only a handful of children in the care of NPH. It remains core to NPH philosophy that brothers and sisters remain together.

Do the children have contact with their families outside of NPH?

Most of the children that have family do have contact. In most of our homes, we have ‘Visitors Day’ three times a year in which children receive visitors for the day. Families arrive and spend the day on NPH grounds and usually bring food and drink. The families usually consist of brothers and sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, sometimes parents and grandparents. Our older youths have every other Sunday free to visit family members outside the home.

In some cases, when this is in the best interest of the children, they will be reintegrated into their biological families, with the continued support of our NPH OneFamily programme.

Can I visit the NPH homes?

Yes. You are always welcome to visit if you sponsor a child or are interested in supporting one of our homes. Our visitor policy and guidelines ensure the wellbeing of our children, as well as your protection. If you want to visit one of the homes, please contact us so we can let you know about any organised trips, or help arrange your travel plans in conjunction with the home’s visitor coordinator.

Sponsorship Questions

How much is my sponsorship?

Sponsorship is £25 a month and your donations are tax deductible. The UK government provides information on claiming tax relief. Also, you can download our Gift Aid form.

Am I my child’s only sponsor?

No. To raise a child is more expensive than just one sponsor’s contribution. Therefore, the children may have additional sponsors from other countries.

Does my donation go directly to my child?

Sponsorship gifts are used to help all the children in the home where your child lives. The financial support of sponsors enables the NPH home to provide basic necessities for all of the NPH children, while giving sponsors the unique opportunity to develop a special relationship with a specific child.

What does my sponsorship provide?

Your contribution goes to the home where your child lives. It helps provide for all the basic necessities for all of the children – food, clothing, medical care, an education, a beautiful home and a loving and supportive family – everything a child needs to grow up healthy and happy. Through education your child is given the chance to break the cycle of poverty.

Your sponsorship connects you with a child. You can write to each other, which helps you to understand how your contribution is making a difference in their life. For the child, sponsorship is positive, as they have the feeling that there are people on the other side of the world who care about them. Child sponsorship changes these children’s lives.

How long do children stay at NPH?

There is no fixed age at which the children leave an NPH home. They stay until they feel prepared to live independently. It also depends on how far they want to pursue their education. Some children may leave NPH and start working after finishing secondary school. Others may stay and take vocational training or study at university.

Additionally, when children have completed their education, or perhaps before going on to higher education, they are expected to give back to their family by completing a year of service to the home. During this year, they continue to be supported by NPH as they work with younger children or serve in the kitchen, offices, school or farm. This model provides great leadership training for the older children, while ensuring that the young ones are well looked after and have fantastic role models.

In some cases, a child may be reintegrated into their biological family if that’s in their best interests. Often you will continue as their sponsor if they join our NPH OneFamily programme, as they continue to receive support from us. In some cases, the child may leave our NPH programme. We will inform you of any changes and how you may continue to support the NPH family.

NPH collaborates closely with local and national authorities, who ultimately decide whether a child should be in care with NPH, return to their own family or leave NPH. Consequently, in some cases a child may only live for a short period at an NPH home.

How long does my child need a sponsor?

You accompany your child as they grow up and complete primary and secondary school, go on to study at university or gain vocational qualifications and finish their year of service. Sponsoring a child makes you a member of our big family. The more you become involved in your child’s life, the more enriching the experience will be.

Girl student at NPH Bolivia
Your sponsorship could help someone through university

When your child becomes an adult and begins their independent life, NPH will give you the opportunity to sponsor another child who also needs your support. Occasionally children may leave NPH earlier. For example, they may return to live with relatives who no longer need support. In cases like these, we will encourage you to sponsor another child.

If you decide at any time to stop sponsoring a child, you just need to let NPH UK know. However, experience shows us that the vast majority of people who decide to sponsor a child at NPH continue to do so for the rest of their lives as part of their commitment to helping society.

Can I communicate with my child?

Yes! Children are excited to receive letters from their sponsors. Simple letters put a smile on their faces and are treasured as the relationship between you and the child grows.

If you would like to write to your child, please send a typed or scanned handwritten letter or card to [email protected]. You may also send drawings and photos by email. We will take care of sending them to your child and translating them if needed.

Do not attempt to send correspondence directly from your home to the child. For security reasons, NPH does not accept letters or presents that come directly from sponsors. They will not take responsibility for this type of correspondence or be able to return it to the country of origin.

Internet at NPH homes can be limited and the children do not have free or constant access to the internet, so we ask you not to write emails. You can write letters in the language your child speaks. Please bear in mind that children at NPH Bolivia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru speak Spanish and children at NPH Haiti speak French or Haitian Creole. We also offer the possibility to translate letters from English into Spanish or French.

May I connect with my child through social media?

NPH UK has procedures in place for ensuring that the content of communications between sponsors and children is appropriate. All sponsor communications are screened for inappropriate content, and any issues or incidents are documented and reported for follow-up action.

The internet is uncontrolled and unregulated. Recognising this, we ask sponsors to respect the privacy of the children and their families by refraining from posting personal information about their specific child on the internet, such as the child’s full name, date of birth, and community information (e.g. name and location). In order to protect the privacy of both our sponsors and our children, no outreach or exchange of contact details should take place between sponsors and their sponsor children during the sponsorship through social media, including Facebook.

If you have questions or concerns about our policy, or have been contacted directly by your sponsored child through social media, please contact us.

How often will I receive news from my child?

Each sponsor will receive correspondence from their child at Christmas, which includes a recent photo, as well as an annual school report so you can follow their progress. You will also receive a reply to every letter, card or gift that you send.

Mexican boy showing letter
Letters to bring a smile to your face and his

When will I receive progress reports on my child?

We will send you a progress report once a year, with timing depending on the school year in the country where the child lives.

When will I receive a new photo of my child?

We send a new photograph of each child at Christmas.

May I send a gift?

Your financial support provides for the care of all the children including food, clothing, shelter, healthcare and education. If you wish to send an extra donation for your child’s birthday, graduation, special holiday, or any reason you choose, this amount will go into the Sharing Fund. These funds are used to buy gifts or treats for the children on special occasions such as birthdays and Christmas. Additionally, the Sharing Fund is used for parties, excursions or special celebrations involving groups of children. The Sharing Fund prevents the inequity that arises when one child receives gifts and another receives none.

If you would like to send a physical gift, we recommend small items such as stickers, drawings, family photos and cards. Larger packages can be subject to import taxes and confiscated at customs.

Sending physical gifts in the post is not always possible or advisable due to the postal systems in some countries not being very reliable. Please contact us to find out if this is possible.

If we tell you it is possible to send a physical gift by post, please put the contents in an open envelope, on which you should write the name and surname of the child you sponsor, the country where they live and your name and surname (do not write your personal address). Put this open envelope (no larger than A3) and its contents inside another sealed envelope and send it to: NPH UK, 66 Walton Road, Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 4UU. For security reasons, NPH does not accept gifts that come directly from sponsors.

In order to keep our overheads down, we ask you to cover postage/courier costs to the NPH home.

What do the words ‘padrino’, ‘madrina’, ‘ahijado’ and ‘ahijada’ mean?

Many children at NPH tend to call their sponsors ‘madrina’ or padrino’ which translate as godmother or godfather. They may also refer to themselves as your ‘ahijado’ or ahijada’ meaning godson or goddaughter. Please do not feel burdened by these terms. They are simply a way for the children to show their affection towards you, given that you are their sponsor.

Can I visit the child I sponsor at an NPH home?

Yes! Sponsors are always welcome to visit your child. Spending time with the children is the best way to learn about NPH’s unique approach and programmes. Please contact us to find out more information, including our visitor policy and guidelines. Sponsors often ask us what type of gifts they can take their child. We suggest a gift that your child can share with the other children such as board games, puzzles, books, balls etc.

Can I sponsor more than one child?

Yes! We are always looking for new sponsors to support new children who come to live at NPH. You may sponsor as many children as you like. In fact, NPH often welcomes families of siblings, so you could sponsor a whole family if you like.

Can I stay in touch with my child once they leave NPH?

If your child is leaving NPH to reintegrate with family with continued support from the NPH OneFamily programme, then you may continue to communicate. However, if your child leaves the NPH programme entirely, they are no longer in our care and we cannot forward your correspondence. In this case, we will notify you and encourage you to sponsor another child in need of your support and encouragement.

Are there other ways I can support the children at NPH?

Yes, there are many other ways to help besides sponsorship! We are a small, but growing charity in the UK, so your support is very much appreciated.

You can:

  • Tell your friends about sponsoring a child in need at NPH.
  • Come to our fundraising events (invite your friends!). Sign up for our email newsletter to hear about the next event.
  • Volunteer at the NPH UK office (admin, translation, graphic design and organizing events are some of the work we need help with).
  • Make a gift in someone’s name, for a birthday or Christmas.
  • Fundraise for us. Take a look at our A-Z of fundraising ideas.

How do I know my donations are being used appropriately?

NPH UK believes that charities must be fully accountable to the public. We follow reporting procedures established by Charity Commission for England and Wales. Each year an accountancy firm conducts an independent examination of our accounts. We publish an annual report and financial statements on-line. View our 2020 annual report.

What is your privacy policy?

The NPH privacy policy is available on our website.