Breadcrumb
- 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.
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.
Comprehensive Community Initiatives Tools for Feds
cciToolsforFeds.org provides information to federal staff to help them design, implement and evaluate comprehensive community initiatives. This ToolKit aims to help federal staff align funding, management, evaluation, and technical assistance to ensure that the focus on systems change remains front and center as they partner with communities in the work of building healthy and capable children, youth, and families.
National Mentoring Resource Center
The goal of the National Mentoring Resource Center is to improve the quality and effectiveness of mentoring across the country by supporting youth mentoring practitioners.
Public/Private Ventures' Evaluation of Faith-Based Programs
This factsheet reports the initial findings of a demonstration project to observe faith-based organizations providing services to at-risk youth. The project hopes to foster better connections between these organizations and other institutions.
2013 Youth Jobs+ Initiative
Youth Jobs+ is an initiative intended to connect young people with jobs, internships, and other employment opportunities by bringing together businesses, nonprofit and faith-based organizations, and elected officials to help create pathways to employment for youth.
Aftercare Services
This Bulletin examines aftercare services that provide youth with comprehensive health, mental health, education, family, and vocational services upon their release from the juvenile justice system.
Employment and Training for Court-Involved Youth
This Report represents a compendium of the opinions and concerns of the Task Force members about current conditions that affect court-involved youth and identifies the most promising strategies for connecting court-involved youth to the labor market.
My Brother’s Keeper Task Force Report to the President
The My Brother’s Keeper Initiative was launched in February 2014 to address the persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color. This 90-day report outlines the initial recommendations developed by the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force and offers a blueprint for action by government, business, nonprofit, philanthropic, faith and community partners.
Opportunity for All: Supporting Asian American and Pacific Islander Families
This document outlines how President Obama’s budget for fiscal year 2015 takes steps to support and create opportunities for Asian American and Pacific Islander families (PDF, 8 pages) in education, employment, health care, and economic growth.
Understanding Taxes
Tax season provides an opportunity to teach young people about the concepts of taxation. The IRS website offers resources that teachers in middle and high schools and community colleges can use to help students better understand the “hows” and “whys” of taxes.
Video: Reflections on The White House Internship Program
White House interns reflect on their experiences interning for the Executive Office of the President. The White House Internship Program provides a unique opportunity to gain valuable professional experience and build leadership skills. This hands-on program is designed to mentor and cultivate today's young leaders, strengthen their understanding of the Executive Office, and prepare them for future public service opportunities.
Economic Costs of Youth Disadvantage and High-Return Opportunities for Change
This report (PDF, 36 pages) describes the barriers that disadvantaged youth, particularly young men of color, face related to education, exposure to the criminal justice system, and employment, and how improving the opportunities would benefit the United States economy and individual communities. The report also highlights promising programs shown to improve outcomes for young people by helping them reach important life milestones.
Report: Fulfilling America’s Future: Latinas in the U.S., 2015
This report (PDF, 29 pages) highlights the condition of Hispanic girls and women in the United States and their participation in areas such as education, health, labor, housing, and politics.
Resource: Native One Stop Website
This website provides a one-stop shop for American Indians and Alaska Natives to access resources available from the federal government. Users can complete a prescreening questionnaire to determine their eligibility criteria for resources and programs and learn how to apply. Resource categories include youth, education, food, employment, loans, and environment.
Report: Combatting Religious Discrimination Today
This report (PDF, 40 pages) describes the findings from “Combating Religious Discrimination Today,” a community engagement initiative designed to promote religious freedom and challenge religious discrimination. The report provides an overview of what was shared at several roundtables held across the country with diverse stakeholders, including religious leaders, civil rights organizations, and community members.