In recent years the organization has targeted comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). It was established by Sharon and Greg Slater in 1999 after Sharon Slater was inspired to take action by the 1999 World Congress of Families. Family Watch International is now a member of WCF. Greg Slater is a Vice President at Intel and an advisor at FWI. Sharon Slater continues to lead FWI and sits on the board of CitizenGo. At present, the organization’s chief targets are Africa and the U.N. Family Watch International holds consultative status at the UN Economic and Social Council.
When Sharon Slater first established FWI, it was an Arizona chapter of United Families International (UFI). Slater was president of UFI from 2001 to 2006. Both organizations have enjoyed extensive support from influential members of the Church of Latter Day Saints: Slater herself is Mormon, and FWI enjoyed financial support from fellow Mormons such as billionaire James LeVoy Sorenson. FWI rejects any claims that it is a religious organization.
Despite a moderate revenue, FWI has leveraged its position in the international evangelical right to have an outsized influence in the UN and Africa. FWI has ties to the President and First Lady of Uganda and, via the World Congress of Families, to legislators in Ghana and Nigeria. Family Watch International and CitizenGo were co-sponsors of a regional World Congress of Families in Ghana in 2019, immediately before the introduction of anti-LGBT+ legislation and anti-CSE uproar. At the UN, Family Watch International offers training to African delegates, spreading misinformation and teaching them how to advance anti-LGBT+ and anti-abortion positions.
