FAQs
Guidelines for FTC Visitors
Face the Children
Philippine Frontline Ministries, Inc.
Policies and Guidelines for FTC Visitors
As a ministry focused on helping children recover from a life marred by gross neglect, abandonment, physical, mental , or sexual abuse, we welcome your involvement at FTC. There are a number of good things you can do to have a positive impact on the FTC children, helping us to succeed with our goals. Most of these good things are extremely simple… such as assisting in teaching, story-telling, devotions, playing games, and even assistance with cooking, cleaning, or other work projects around the FTC premises.
As much as there are simple things that will assist and be of great encouragement to us and the children, there are also things that could detract us from our goals, and create unintended difficulties. For this reason, as a visitor or short term contributor to FTC we would like your understanding, respect, and cooperation in the following matters.
Gift Giving
The main needs of the FTC children are not material things, but rather the immaterial thing of dignity, safety, real friendship, love, and a healthy formative environment. While we do understand and appreciate the generosity and good will of visitors, very distinct problems can be created when visitors give things or money directly to FTC children. Though your intentions may be good, what you intend for good can lead to division and strife among the children based on jealousy and competition for attention. Therefore, we must insist that the giving of material things to the FTC children be submitted entirely to and through the FTC leadership.
If the situation is deemed appropriate, it may be possible to distribute gifts to all the kids together with the FTC staff. Under no circumstances are you to give money directly to any child under the FTC program.
NOTE: The current leadership tasked with handling these requests and concerns is Jeff Rice or Mike and Andrea Erickson.
Bonding, Leadership, and Counseling
We want visitors who assist with the FTC children to have a positive influence on the children. We would like you to enjoy the opportunity to minister godly love and care through your visiting, talking, playing games, leading devotionals, praying together, and assisting in other activities. Throughout these interactions it is very easy to become quite attached to specific children. And though this is again understandable, it also can lead to problems for the FTC children and staff. So we ask that your time be spread as evenly spread as possible among the children.
If you are married and have children, you can no doubt appreciate your role and responsibility as a parent to manage the home. As a parent, you play a unique role in observing the long term behavior and interaction of your children with others. It is very likely that no one else has as much knowledge about your children, and that no one else is as equipped as you, to make judgment calls on what they should or should not be allowed to have or do.
In the same way, we would like you to recognize FTC as a family. It is critical to our success that the children look primarily to the on-site permanent staff as their main covering for Parental counsel, leadership, and discipline. Care must be taken to reinforce this. Please understand therefore that “special” relationships, between visitors and FTC children, are not always in the best interest of the overall program. Such situations can lead to a child not accepting an FTC leader’s position as well as they should. Visitors can best avoid this dilemma by giving time and attention equally to as many children as possible.
Many of the FTC children are from highly dysfunctional family backgrounds. We need your help in successfully implementing a good example of functional relationships and a safe family environment where there is order, structure, and a respect for authority. Please encourage the FTC children to look to the staff leaders for such counsel, and do not offer counsel unless with a staff leader who has deemed it appropriate.
Please remember... when you leave, it will be the staff that remain and continue the daily ground work of trying to keep these children on a pathway toward a successful and blessed future. Along with your compassion, love, and generosity, your understanding and cooperation will help ensure the success of these children.
Special Activities
You may want to have fun with the kids and do special things for them. Of course this too is normal. And from time to time it is great to be able to take the kids swimming, on field trips, or to do other fun things. If you are interested in hosting such activities, once again, please discuss it first with one of the FTC leaders before mentioning such ideas to the children.
Discussion Content
Please be sensitive when trying to ask children about their stories. It is better to focus your conversation more on what they are doing now, what they are learning, and what they would like to do in the future. Please refrain from asking questions about their past. Some of these children have been through things that are better not discussed, or reminded of. Again, the staff is knowledgeable of the children and their backgrounds, and it is their task to guide them through Christ’s healing love (which requires a process of time).
Integrity Issues
FTC fully intends to manage an "incident free" child care program. For your own protection, and for the welfare of our program, we ask that you take great care with regards to not being alone with any of the FTC children. Doing so could bring your own integrity into question, and endanger the entire FTC program. It is necessary therefore, that when interacting with the children during FTC activities, you remain in the open and as much as possible with among other adults. The children are not allowed to enter visitor’s quarters at any time.
Leaving the Premises
Under no circumstances should any visitor go outside of the FTC premises with a child, or children, without the express consent and knowledge of the main leadership. Please understand that we have integrity issues to maintain, and visitors going through the town with the children could raise questions among some people.
After you Leave
Certainly, we do not want you to forget the children when you leave! And though we encourage you to continue communicating with them, please note that all communication must be filtered through staff supervision. FTC children are not allowed to communicate directly with adult visitors through email or phone calls. You may email the children by using our monitored email address, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . You can be sure that your letters will reach the children, unless there are matters that concern the staff, in which case they will reply to you directly.
If you have questions about any of these matters, the FTC leaders will be happy to entertain you and answer your questions.
