Questions about Orphan Care Compass

The Orphan Care Compass (OCC) is a free capacity-building tool designed to help orphan-care ministries identify practical ways to strengthen their work. It reviews publicly available information about your ministry and provides a few realistic ideas to consider—not a score or a deficiency report.

OCC’s guidance is built from the trusted organizations and materials listed on our Resources page, including resources specifically developed for orphaned and vulnerable child care.

The Compass uses this knowledge to connect what it learns about your ministry with relevant practices, examples, and resources. OCC is not creating a new standard for orphan care. It is helping ministries find and apply useful knowledge that already exists.

OCC reviews publicly available information, primarily your ministry’s website and other relevant public sources. It looks for things such as who you serve, the programs you provide, your approach to caring for children and families, and opportunities to strengthen your ministry.

No. OCC only knows what it can learn from publicly available information. If something is not visible online, OCC should not assume it is not happening.

That is why recommendations are intended to start useful conversations, not make judgments about your ministry.

Yes. A recommendation that is realistic for a $5 million organization may make no sense for a ministry operating on $75,000 a year. OCC uses your approximate annual operating budget as a starting point for understanding capacity and adjusts its recommendations accordingly.

Budget is not the only consideration. OCC also considers what it can learn about your programs, geography, service model, and organizational complexity. The goal is to recommend a realistic next step for your ministry—not simply describe an ideal practice.

It may identify questions or practices worth considering when they relate to child safety, family care, permanency, safeguarding, or other areas covered by the trusted resources behind OCC.

The goal is not to replace the judgment of local leaders or qualified professionals. It is to bring relevant knowledge to ministry leaders at the point where it may be useful.

Telos Orphan Partners is a Christian nonprofit focused on helping orphaned and vulnerable children find safe, loving families through the global Body of Christ.

Telos created the Orphan Care Compass to help ministries strengthen their work by making trusted orphan-care knowledge and resources easier to find and apply. Telos does not claim to be the source of the best practices used by OCC. The Compass draws from trusted organizations and materials and helps connect that knowledge to the needs and capacity of individual ministries.

OCC is designed to work primarily from information that is already publicly available. Please see our Privacy Policy for information about data collection, use, and retention.

No. OCC uses technology to review public information, organize knowledge, and help make relevant guidance easier to find. The value comes from the knowledge and experience of people in the orphan-care community.

Show Me How translates a recommendation into practical next steps. The steps should reflect your ministry’s size and resources.

No. Some recommendations may confirm work already underway. Some may deserve discussion with another leader, and some may not fit your context. You decide what is useful.

No. Telos is not a grant-making organization.

Community mapping has been part of Telos’ earlier learning and technology work, but it is not a current OCC feature. The current focus is understanding a ministry and bringing it practical guidance and relevant resources.

Yes. This is the beginning of the conversation—not the end. Visit Start a Conversation to find the most relevant next step.