World Vision Australia is committed to the welfare of children and their protection from abuse and exploitation. This commitment is spelled out in our Child Protection Policy. We also uphold the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (1989), Article 19.

Every person who shares in the work of World Vision Australia - including staff, volunteers, contractors, and supporters - also shares in the responsibility to take every precaution to protect the children and families we serve.

In order to help protect the privacy, dignity and personal safety of every sponsored child, World Vision has developed the following guidelines in line with our Child Protection Policies.

Displaying photos of your sponsored child

Sponsoring a child is a wonderful experience and one we encourage you to share with loved ones. You're welcome to display photos of your sponsored child at your home or personal space at work/business to share your experience of helping a child in need.

Copying photos of your sponsored child

World Vision is required by law and by our own policies to limit the distribution of information and images of sponsored children. As a child sponsor, you may enlarge a photo of your sponsored child to display it at home or your personal space at work/business, along with basic personal information (name, age and country only), but you'll need our written permission, which you can request by calling 1300 303 440.

If you sponsor a child as a part of a group, you can make additional copies of the photo to give to each financially contributing member of that group. Once again, though, you'll need our permission, which you can request by calling 1300 303 340.

Online publishing and emailing photos of your sponsored child

Emailing and publishing photos and personal information of your sponsored child online creates risks to the privacy, dignity and personal safety of the child. We ask you not to place your sponsored child’s photo and/or personal information (age, last name, geographical location, health, education or other) on a website (internet or intranet) or email it to others.

By agreement with each particular country and community, World Vision is allowed to display child photos and information on the World Vision website only.

Promoting World Vision child sponsorship

We welcome those who wish to help us find new sponsors. On our web assets you'll find banner ads and clickable links that you can download and place on your website to encourage others to sponsor a child.

World Vision is committed to protecting the security, privacy, and dignity of the children whose parents, guardians and community leaders have graciously allowed to be a part of our child sponsorship programs.

The policies below describe how we protect children in relation to the web sponsorship process.

Child security

Children have the right to be completely secure from the fear or reality of any potential abuse (either physical or emotional) resulting from an inappropriate contact by a sponsor or any other person.

You will notice as you proceed through our sponsorship site that we release only limited information about the children. We don't include last names, community names or locations, or any other information that might identify the location of the child. We intentionally withhold this information until after the identity of the sponsor is verified.

By agreeing to become a child sponsor, you also agree not to attempt to contact a sponsored child, his or her family or community members, in any manner other than that prescribed and permitted in advance in writing by World Vision. Telephone calls, emails or unplanned visits to the child's residence and community are not allowable without the written permission and oversight of World Vision. Letters and packages can be sent by post, and you can read instructions on what you can send in the material mailed to you after you become a sponsor.

Child privacy

We take potential misuse of child photographs on the web very seriously. Children and their families must be assured that World Vision is protecting the integrity of the information about themselves that they've given us, including photographs. Privacy also demands that children, their families and communities be shielded from any potential inappropriate contact from sponsors or others.

That's why we don't allow downloading, copying, or replicating photos or other information relating to children and their communities on this website without our prior written permission. Child profiles are presented for the purpose of conveying appropriate information about the sponsorship relationship, and are not to be distributed.

Our photos of children are encoded with a digital watermark. They can't be downloaded and unauthorised access to the source data has been blocked. World Vision monitors the web for inappropriate use of these images and we're committed to pursuing every available legal recourse to stopping their misuse. For more information on our content policy, please refer to our Assets for Web page. 

Child dignity

The lives of children, their families, and members of their community should be represented with accuracy and dignity. We consider the children we work with as our partners, working with us to help bring holistic transformation to communities living in poverty. We seek the full, informed consent of parents, guardians, and/or community leaders for a child's participation in our child sponsorship programs.

If you have any questions about any of these policies, please email us.