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- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Children in Foster Care with Parents in Federal Prison: A Toolkit for Child Welfare Agencies, Federal Prisons, and Residential Reentry Centers
Roughly 10% of incarcerated mothers in state prison have a child in a foster home or other state care. Some estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 8 children who are subjects of reports of maltreatment and investigated by child welfare agencies have parents who were recently arrested. Though there is clearly overlap between the prison system and the child welfare system, it is often difficult for prison officials to know how to help incarcerated parents stay in touch with their children in foster care and work towards reunification. Similarly, it is difficult for child welfare agencies to know how to engage parents in prison. The purpose of this toolkit is to help facilitate communication and cooperation between child welfare agencies and federal prisons so that parents can stay engaged in their children's lives.
Children of Incarcerated Parents – Fact Sheet
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2007, an estimated 1.7 million children under the age of 18 had a parent in prison, an increase of almost 80 percent since 1991. The negative consequences for children with an incarcerated parent can be substantial, including financial instability, changes in family structure, shame, and social stigma. However, research also shows that supporting healthy and positive relationships between these vulnerable children, who are the innocent bystanders of adult decisions, and their families has the potential to mitigate negative outcomes.
An interagency group, that includes the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Agriculture as well as the Social Security Administration, has partnered with stakeholders both inside and outside of government to identify opportunities to support these children and their caregivers. This fact sheet describes the efforts of the interagency group.
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons protects society by confining offenders in the controlled environments of prisons and community-based facilities that are safe, humane, cost-efficient, and appropriately secure, and that provide work and other self-improvement opportunities to assist offenders in becoming law-abiding citizens.
Video Visiting in Corrections: Benefits, Limitations, and Implementing Considerations
This guide from the National Institute of Corrections can help inform administrators working in correctional settings about the benefits and challenges of using “video visiting,” in which incarcerated individuals communicate with family members via video conferencing technology or virtual software programs. The guide includes three chapters that address: (1) reasons to consider video visiting; (2) implementation considerations; and (3) evaluation of a video visiting program.
National Institute of Corrections (NIC) - Children of Incarcerated Parents (CoIP) Project
Studies show that the arrest of a parent can be traumatic for children and their families and it is correlated with behavioral problems, poor outcomes in school, and the severance of relationships with the incarcerated parents, that often lasts a long time after the parent is released. The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) created the Children of Incarcerated Parents Project (CoIP) to assist stakeholders who are involved with affected families by providing a review of existing literature and promising practices and working with stakeholders to build frameworks to apply lessons learned in the field.
National Reentry Resource Center
Funded by the Second Chance Act of 2008, and launched by the Council of State Governments Justice Center in 2009, the National Reentry Resource Center provides education, training, and technical assistance to states, tribes, territories, local governments, service providers, non-profit organizations, and corrections institutions working on prisoner reentry.
Parental Incarceration and Child Wellbeing: An Annotated Bibliography
This annotated bibliography focuses on quantitative research on the consequences of paternal and maternal incarceration for children that (1) attempts to control for selection using standard statistical techniques, (2) uses broadly representative data, and (3) differentiates consequences of paternal incarceration from consequences of maternal incarceration. Although this bibliography focuses primarily on research in the United States, a small number of studies using data from European countries are also included (and many additional studies in that vein are also included in the further readings section so that interested readers will be able to read more in this area).
Parental Incarceration and Child Wellbeing: An Annotated Bibliography (PDF, 17 pages)
Promising Practices Toolkit: Working with Drug Endangered Children and Their Families
This toolkit, developed by the Department of Justice's Federal Interagency Task Force on Drug Endangered Children, aims to help professionals serving drug-endangered children by identifying promising practices in the field, as well as why these practice works and resources to assist in their implementation.
Safeguarding Children of Arrested Parents: Trauma Prevention Policy
The Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), in partnership with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) created a policy, Safeguarding Children of Arrested Parents. The policy, which reflects input from subject-matter experts and stakeholders, provides strategies for law enforcement to improve their procedures for interactions with children when a parent is arrested.
Video: Safeguarding Children of Arrested Parents Training
This training video shows children telling their own stories about how they were affected by the arrest of a parent, and demonstrates the core principles from the Model Policy for Safeguarding Children of Arrested Parents (PDF, 38 pages), illustrating actions law enforcement officers can take to reduce trauma.
Resource: Hidden Consequences: The Impact of Incarceration on Dependent Children
This article summarizes the range of risk factors facing children of incarcerated parents. It also cautions against universal policy solutions that seek to address these risk factors but do not take into account the child's unique needs, the child's relationship with the incarcerated parent, and alternative support systems. Correctional practitioners and other service providers can use this resource to better understand how their communication and collaboration can foster a safety net for children and facilitate successful re-entry for the incarcerated parent.
Americans with Disabilities Act
Site providing information and technical assistance on provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Best Practices Guide on Mentoring Youth with Disabilities
This best practices guide funded in part under a grant/contract supported by the Office of Disability Employment Policy of the U. S. Department of Laborh and the Technology Opportunities Program of the U. S. Department of Commerce,
National Telecommunications and Information Administration aims to help communities to start mentoring programs or expand a program to include youth with disabilities.
Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice: Schools and Special Education
Resources on how to foster collaboration and implement best practices in school and special education settings.
Department of Education "Dear Colleague" Letter on Braille
The Department of Education released a Dear Colleague Letter to provide information to states and agencies about the importance of Braille instruction, clarify when these services should be provided to students, help school teams understand the evaluation required to guide decisions about services, and highlight available resources that can help personnel meet the needs of students who are blind or visually impaired (PDF, 6 pages).
Disability Employment 101
The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services within the Department of Education has released and updated its Disability Employment 101 guide. This guide provides information about hiring employees with disabilities, including information about how to find qualified workers with disabilities, how to put disability and employment research into practice, and how to model what other businesses have done to successfully integrate individuals with disabilities into the workforce.
Federal TRIO Programs
The Federal TRIO Programs are educational opportunity outreach programs designed to motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds. TRIO includes six outreach and support programs targeted to serve and assist low-income, first-generation college students, and students with disabilities to progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to post-baccalaureate programs.
Federal Resource Center for Special Education
The Federal Resource Center for Special Education supports the work of the six OSEP-funded Regional Resource Centers (RRCs) that provide technical assistance (TA) to assist states in complying with IDEA and to implement evidence-based educational practices.
IDEA Partnership
The IDEA Partnership reflects the collaborative work of more than 50 national organizations, technical assistance providers, and organizations and agencies at state and local level. Together with the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), the Partner Organizations form a community with the potential to transform the way we work and improve outcomes for students and youth with disabilities.
Information for Educators on Communicating With Students With Disabilities
A letter (PDF, 2 pages) and accompanying frequently asked questions (PDF, 30 pages) provide guidance that can help schools comply with federal legal requirements for meeting the communication needs of students with disabilities. A fact sheet for parents (PDF, 2 pages) explaining the guidance is also available.
National Center to Improve Practice
NCIP works to promote the effective use of technology to enhance educational outcomes for students with sensory, cognitive, physical and social/emotional disabilities.
National Center on Secondary Education and Transition
The National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET) coordinates national resources, offers technical assistance, and disseminates information related to secondary education and transition for youth with disabilities in order to create opportunities for youth to achieve successful futures.
National Center on Accessible Instruction Materials
The AIM Center serves as a resource for stakeholders, including state- and district-level educators, parents, publishers, conversion houses, accessible media producers, and others interested in learning more about and implementing AIM and NIMAS.
National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities
The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities (NDPC-SD) supports the national implementation of provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to provide successful school outcomes for students with disabilities. NDPC-SD supports states in assisting local education agencies to increase school completion rates and decrease dropout rates among students with disabilities.
National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
Resources developed by the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities are now housed by the Center for Parent Information and Resources.