the children
How do you choose children for the Beyond the Orphanage program?
We work with local government authorities to carefully select children from our local area. The children must have lost both parents and be around eight to 18 years old to be eligible for our program.
We value all children equally and never discriminate on grounds of race, gender, religious beliefs or physical or mental challenges.
How do I know the children are safe with you?
We have very clear policies and procedures to ensure children in our program are respected, protected and active in their own protection. This means we carefully select employees, the foster families and make regular school and home visits.
We supervise all communication or contact between donors or sponsors and the children to ensure no child is at risk of harm. We also thoroughly screen all donors or sponsors if they wish to visit our programs in Nepal or Kenya or to visit a sponsored child.
Our staff and volunteers receive ongoing training and support to ensure they can confidently meet their child protection responsibilities. Read more about our child protection policy.
Child Sponsorship
Can I choose a child to sponsor?
As we are a small organisation, our policy is to allocate a child to you. We know our wonderful children really well, and we try to match a child to what you hope to get out of your sponsorship experience.
If I sponsor a child, what details will I receive about them?
When you sign up as a sponsor, we’ll send you an introduction to the child, with photos and a short life history. You’ll receive updates every six months with school reports when available, photos and details about the child, and their family and community.
How long does my sponsorship last?
It’s up to you how long you’d like to continue funding. In a perfect world, it would be great to sponsor the child through to adulthood so they can receive the full benefit of our program.
Can I visit my sponsored child?
Visiting a sponsored child is a wonderful experience and we will help you arrange this. Please tell us of any planned trips early as possible.
We take child protection very seriously, so we will do police checks and ask you to fill out some forms before confirming your visit. Beyond the Orphanage staff in Nepal and Kenya supervise all visits.
How do you choose children for the Beyond the Orphanage program?
We work with local government authorities to carefully select children from our local area. The children must have lost both parents and be around eight to 18 years old to be eligible for our program.
We value all children equally and never discriminate on grounds of race, gender, religious beliefs or physical or mental challenges.
Why can’t the children go to a regular orphanage?
The orphanages in Nepal and Kenya are often at capacity, leaving a generation of children who live their lives on the streets. The local government refers children to us who do not have a home, and we find foster families for those children.
Are you a type of orphanage?
No. We have a foster care/kinship care program finding new homes and foster families for orphans. We do have temporary accommodation for emergency situations, but this is only intended to be for a few nights.
When a child enters the program, we work hard to find them a loving home and family in their own community. Ideally this is with a relative who wouldn’t be able to support an extra family member without our help
How do I know the children are safe with you?
We have very clear policies and procedures to ensure children in our program are respected, protected and active in their own protection. This means we carefully select employees, the foster families and make regular school and home visits.
We supervise all communication or contact between donors or sponsors and the children to ensure no child is at risk of harm. We also thoroughly screen all donors or sponsors if they wish to visit our centre in Nepal or Kenya or a sponsored child.
Our staff and volunteers receive ongoing training and support to ensure they can confidently meet their child protection responsibilities. To find out more, read our Child Protection Policy.
How does the community benefit from a child entering and participating in your program?
A child entering our program brings much needed resources to the family and boosts the general wellbeing of the community around them. We ensure our children and their families have access to clean water, food, proper shelter, medical and counselling support. Families and guardians receive separate counselling and support and often take part in our community education programs.
How can I help?
You can volunteer, donate, create your own fundraiser or simply tell other people about our work – sharing our news on social media is a great start.
If you’d like to get more involved, you can run a fundraising campaign for your school, office or local community. Anything from a raffle to a car boot sale or raffle will work – it’s up to you. If you need some ideas, get in touch with us.
We need a range of skilled volunteers, including those with accounting, communications and IT skills. Please send us as much detail as you can about your background, your skills, education and experience, and we’ll contact you to see how you can best get involved.
Community Work
How does the community benefit from a child entering and participating in your program?
A child entering our program brings much needed resources to the family and boosts the general wellbeing of the community around them. We ensure our children and their families have access to clean water, food, proper shelter, medical and counselling support. Families and guardians receive separate counselling and support and often take part in our community education programs.
What other community work do you do?
Beyond the Orphanage offers a range of community programs and education seminars hosted by staff and guest speakers. We also design specific projects that benefit the communities our children live in. For example, we ran a recent skills campaign for social workers that was open to the wider social work community. We also ran a fundraiser for toilet facilities to benefit the communities in which our children live.
We always consult with the communities we work in – on both the projects they need and how we can best go about them. Speaking to, and working with, local community organisations, government organisations and families are an essential part of any projects we do.
You can read about some of our past projects or even choose a project to donate to now.
What’s the bigger picture for your work?
We work with government, community organisations and other not-for-profit organisations to target the needs of vulnerable children across Nepal and Kenya. Together, we are helping to create stronger national policies to protect these children and designing programs to give them the start in life they need.
The Organisation
Why can’t the children go to a regular orphanage?
The orphanages in Nepal and Kenya are often at capacity, leaving a generation of children who live their lives on the streets. The local government refers children to us who do not have a home, and we find foster families for those children.
Are you a type of orphanage?
No. We have a foster care/kinship care program finding new homes and foster families for orphans. We do have temporary accommodation for emergency situations, but this is only intended to be for a few nights.
When a child enters the program, we work hard to find them a loving home and family in their own community. Ideally this is with a relative who wouldn’t be able to support an extra family member without our help.
Read more about how our model works.
How can I help?
I want to help. What’s the best way to do this?
You can volunteer, donate, create your own fundraiser or simply tell other people about our work – sharing our news on social media is a great start.
If you’d like to get more involved, you can run a fundraising campaign for your school, office or local community. Anything from a raffle to a car boot sale or raffle will work – it’s up to you. If you need some ideas, get in touch with us.
We need a range of skilled volunteers, including those with accounting, communications and IT skills. Please send us as much detail as you can about your background, your skills, education, and experience, and we’ll contact you to see how you can best get involved.
You can also post one of our photos or videos on social media, or see below to sign up for our newsletter.
Read more on how you can get involved.
Giving money to BTO
What the best type of donation to make?
We’re grateful for any donation you make, no matter how small. You can choose a one-off donation, support a specific campaign, or choose to sponsor a child – it’s up to you and what you are comfortable with. See some of the ways you can donate.
You can also have some fun and create a fundraising campaign for us. It’s easy! You can set a campaign goal, see a running total online and then share this with others. We’re here to help with ideas and advice too.
How do I know the money will go where it’s supposed to?
All our financial transactions are 100% transparent. We are a small organisation and we follow all donations every step of the way. This is backed up by a very clear accounting and auditing process that meets Australian, Nepali and Kenyan standards for not-for-profit organisations.
You can read our annual financial reports, which detail exactly where our funds go, and we are always more than happy to discuss any questions or concerns you have.
Our directors of the international branch and the experts who work on our programs give their time for free. This means donations go exactly where they’re meant to – to the kids and the facilities that support them, such as medical care, school books, food, clothing, and counselling.