I want to find a way to sponsor a child in another country for my son's birthday AND to communicate with him/her or their mother. I've seen the ads for "feed the children" but have heard they are not the best to donate to because more money goes to advertising than the kids, and you also can't write to the kids. Are there such programs where we can sponsor AND write? Any recommendations?

I don't know if you want to go through a Christian organization or not, but we sponsor a child through CFCA (http://www.cfcausa.org/). We have sponsored our child for 11 years now. I write to him once a month, sometimes more. He writes about 4-5 times a year. If we had the funds, the organization will even arrange for you to go meet your child in person. I have been very pleased with our experience with them. Our child is about to graduate from schooling and will be an 'adult', we are so proud of him! I opted for "a person in most need" and we were given our child that way.....however, you can choose what area you would like to sponsor and the gender of the child. You can also choose to adopt an elderly person.

You can browse the site for any information you are looking for. They also are very quick to respond to inquiries. The following is from the site re: your question of where the money goes....
Q. How much of my contribution actually reaches the mission?

A. CFCA is committed to financial transparency. More than 83 percent of your sponsorship contribution is sent to the project serving your sponsored friend. The remainder is used to maintain the sponsorship program here in the United States and for administration and fund-raising. Please review our accountability information and our current Annual Stewardship Report for details.

HTH! If you have any questions for me, feel free to pm me! :)

We sponsor a child through Save the Children; we are encouraged to write, and our child has mailed us some pictures :) You can set everything up on their website.

Do either of these place allow you to send packages? My mom has been wanting to something where she can send packages. But I didn't think any would actually let you write the child.

Yes, you can send stuff to the child through STC.

We sponsor a girl through World Vision. We can write back and forth but not send large packages, stickers or flat things are ok.

Warm wishes,

we also sponsor with world vision. Wehave been doing so for about 8 months now and have recieved 2 letters from our sponsor child. My boys really want to send him toys and such be we aren't allowed to :( They are a great organization and 87% of your donation goes directly to the child. Right now I pay $26 a month but I think it's going up to $30.

we've been sponsoring a little girl from lesotho for almost 3 years now through world vision. my dd and her are the same age, 9 years old. we write about twice a year.

barbs

I also highly recommend going through World Vision. We currently sponsor four children from four different countries. We have had two others in the past that have left the system (because their families were able to become self-sufficient through the help of World Vision!). We get new pictures every year and they write us at least once a year. The more we write them, the more we hear from them:) We also have the opportunity to give more at their birthday and other holidays to help with special events in their villages, etc. (school supplies, etc). You can check them out at my World Vision (http://connect.worldvision.org/person/adamfamily) page.

*edited to change link to my WV page*

I sponsor an older woman through CFCA. I have been very happy with them. You can write but I have yet to. I do get a couple letters each year from the woman we are helping though. They don't recommend sending large packages because items sometimes get stolen in the mail and sometimes there is a large customs surcharge on packages. They do say that you can send in extra money earmarked for Christmas, birthday, etc and the local staff will use that money to buy something as a gift on your behalf.

What if the child doesn't speak English? How could we correspond?

My letters come written in my sponsored woman's language on one side (I'm embarrassed to say I don't know what she speaks - she's in India) and it is translated into English on the other side. I believe when you send a letter, they translate it for you. Many years ago, I sponsored a very young child through Children International who couldn't write. In that case, she drew a picture and a local worker wrote a short update on how she was doing. Later I came across something about Children International that rubbed me the wrong way (forget what - maybe it was how much they spent on advertisements) and I dropped that sponsorship.

We privately sponsor through a school near where dh grew up. We don't do monthly payments, but provide 2 scholarships per year. (2 different kids)

Dh was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go through school, because his father had a 'good' job, but many children only go until about 9/10yo because they can't afford it. :(

It makes me so sad remembering how much we take for granted, that other children can't experience.

What if the child doesn't speak English? How could we correspond?

None of the sponsored children we sponsor speak English. Our letters are translated before they reach the child ~ they receive our original, plus the intepreted version. The same for the letters I receive from them:) For the child we sponsor who doesn't write, he draws pictures that are sent plus he dictates to a worker, and it is later translated prior to being mailed to us.

I recently began sponsoring a child through AHOPE (http://www.ahopeforchildren.org/). I don't yet know whether you can exchange letters or not.