Grants for Children Whose Fathers Are Incarcerated

A number of organizations and foundations assist the children of incarcerated fathers to cope, avoid damaging behavior and ultimately succeed. However, this assistance doesn’t arrive only in the form of grants. It might arise in the form of somewhat lesser, need-based grants with the aim of helping these children and their families with day-to-day expenses. Rather than going directly to the children, grant money is quite often dispersed to organizations which set up mentoring programs.

Federal grants intended for the children of incarcerated fathers are commonly available to statewide mentoring programs rather than individuals. This grant money is doled out through the Administration for Children and Families. The funds are usually pooled with other areas of funding. The government-run program Mentoring of Children of Prisoners has a total funding of just $15 million. Of this, two million dollars is paid out in the form of grants and the only entities that qualify are government-run, such as school districts and non-profits.

The mentoring program called U.S. Dream Academy so far operates in just 10 major U.S. cities. They seek to encourage a child's sense of personal character and academic achievement through mentoring programs. One ultimate goal is to break family cycles of incarceration. This granted mentor program aims to develop the children’s' school performance. Mentoring programs seek to bolster the academic performance of these children while simultaneously building character.

The fact remains that federal education grant money for children of incarcerated parental units is in essence non-existent. At present, most grant funds are directed at social programs intended for the children of incarcerated parents instead of education. There exist numerous grants to keep families united or attempt to prevent these children from replicating their parent's illegal behavior. But grants that provide a considerable academic edge are still very slim in number.