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Family and Friends

You have one of the toughest and most important roles to play in reentry! The effort of supporting a family member or a friend as they make the transition from prison to society can be time-consuming, emotionally challenging and extremely difficult. If your loved one or friend is currently incarcerated, please check out the links and tools we have found to support you.

If you are here to help someone with their release: please visit any or all pages on the website to find information! You might want to start on the Formerly and Currently Incarcerated Person’s page, or look at the Quick Start Guide to help you navigate this huge website!

ameelio“FREE” MAIL SERVICE

https://ameelio.org/#/

Ameelio has an app that you can use to send free letters or photos through the postal service.  The company says: “Whether it’s images, postcards, or games, send them for free. We’ll print and mail it for you.”

Fair Shake has received several responses from incarcerated folks saying the app works very well.  I cannot promote an app, however,  without including this:

APP REMINDER: Companies that offer “free” services through ‘apps’ capture lots of data from your phone.  “When the product is free, you are the product.” Try to keep this in mind in this age of data mining and “smart” technology.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is a U.S. government program that helps many low income households pay for broadband service and internet connected devices.                  https://affordableconnectivity.gov/

UntitledChildren of Incarcerated Parents– A Bill of Rights
San Francisco, CA

 

ParentingReaching Beyond Bars – Handbook for Families of Prisoners       WI

 

RIStaying Connected and Staying Strong Handbook
MN

 

Directory of Programs Serving Children and Families of the Incarcerated

Programs in States from ALABAMA – MISSISSIPPI (Maintained on the Rutgers University website.)

Programs in States from MONTANA – WYOMING      (Maintained on the Rutgers University website.)

http://nrccfi.camden.rutgers.edu/resources/directory/states-mt-wy/

STTV

Sesame Street Addresses Incarceration

Click here to watch Sesame Street collection of videos on incarceration.

 

Little Children Big Challenges – Incarceration

Tips for Caregivers

Tips for Incarcerated Parents

Need to Improve Your Computer Skills?

Learn more about using your computer on our Building Computer Skills page!

How to stay safe, recognize spam, and learn to use a computer – wherever you’re at – through our tutorial!

High School club for Children with Incarcerated Parents:

POPS the Club (Pain Of the Prison System)  https://popsclubs.com/ 

Providing community and supporting teens with loved ones in prison.

Our high school-based clubs meet weekly to nourish, empower, heal and inspire through creative expression and emotional support. We provide students with the tools and confidence to educate the broader community. Our core work takes place during weekly POPS the Club meetings where participants break bread and break their silence. Following their communal meals, students benefit from the wisdom of guest speakers, from opportunities for writing and making art, from conversation and from mindfulness exercises.

START A FAMILY PROGRAM IN YOUR STATE!

New Hampshire Dept. of Corrections FAMILY CONNECTIONS CENTER has collaborated with many state and private organizations throughout the years to try to create systems of care for families affected by incarceration.

They’ve created a Family Fun Day:

A very special occasion for families!

Incarcerated parents and their children are offered one day of extended and more ‘free-form’ visiting.

Find out more about the event, and the responses to it here and through the NH-DOC website:

https://www.nh.gov/nhdoc/fcc/

CAN WE DO THIS IN EVERY PRISON?

Links for Families of Prisoners

Everything in this section available Online Only

Directory of Programs Serving Children and Families of the Incarcerated

View Programs in States Alabama-Missouri
View Programs in States Montana-Wyoming (including Washington, DC)
View Programs offering National services

Supporting Children and Families of Prisoners

From the Dept. of Health and Human Services

https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/supporting/support-services/prisoners/

Parenting Issues During Incarceration
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/prison2home02/Hairston.htm

Services to Children and Families of Prisoners
https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/supporting/support-services/prisoners/

Online Support Forums

Daily Strength http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Families-of-Prisoners/support-group

Girl Scouts Beyond Bars for Girls and Moms

www.girlscoutsww.org

How to Change a Child Support Order – State by State

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/css/resource/state-by-state-how-to-change-a-child-support-order

(note: some states do not allow incarcerated parents to decrease, defer or delay child support payments

Forever Family: Surround Children with the Love of Family!

http://www.foreverfam.org/index.php

Project W.H.A.T. (We’re Here And Talking) For Teens!

http://www.communityworkswest.org/index.php/project-what

Support for Children and Families By State

Arkansas

Arkansas Voiceshttp://www.arkansasvoices.org/

California

Friends Outsidehttp://www.friendsoutside.org/

Missouri

Chillicothe Correctional Center – Program for children and their incarcerated moms
http://www.chillicothepatch.org/

New York

NY State: The Osborne Association

http://www.osborneny.org/index.cfm

Virginia

Assisting Families of the Incarcerated http://www.afoi.org/

Other Resources to Support Loved Ones in Transition

Ban the Box Campaign

National Employment Law Project (NELP):

Fair Chance – Ban the Box toolkit: to help advocates launch their own fair chance, “ban the box” campaigns locally.

Veterans Page

https://www.fairshake.net/veterans-page/

The veterans’ page was created to assist veterans who have been Incarcerated as well as their families. The programs and resources on this page can help reduce the pressures associated with reentry. Our hope is that you will find these resources helpful in providing relief as you face the challenges of finding and supporting an effective  way of life after incarceration.Thank you for your service to our country.

Currently and Formerly Incarcerated Authors Page

https://www.fairshake.net/incarcerated-and-formerly-incarcerated-authors-page/

We’ve created this page to showcase literary accomplishments of the incarcerated and formerly Incarcerated authors. In support of these individuals and all successful transitions, we have vetted and recommended the books on our Currently and Formerly Incarcerated Authors page.

Activism

Everything in this section available Online Only

Prison Activist Resource Center

http://www.prisonactivist.org/

Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants / C.U.R.E.
http://www.curenational.org

American Civil Liberties Union: Key Issues
http://www.aclu-wa.org/issues/criminal-justice

Families Against Mandatory Minimums / FAMM
http://www.famm.org/

The Sentencing Project
http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/index.cfm

Higher Ed scholarships for Children with Incarcerated Parents

  1. ScholarCHIPS
  2. www.scholarCHIPSfund.com. ScholarCHIPS provides college scholarships and a support network for children of incarcerated parents, inspiring them to complete their college education.
  1. Ava’s Grace Scholarship Foundation www.avasgrace.org . They award scholarships to children with parents incarcerated in the federal prison system.
  1. Miami-Dade Scholarship   http://www.mdc.edu/financialaid/scholarships/american-dream.aspx   The American Dream Scholarship helps the dream of higher education become a reality. This scholarship picks up where other aid and scholarships leave off, ensuring that bright, qualified students have the means to continue their education. The scholarship is made possible by the generosity of members of the Greater Miami community.
  1. Children Impacted by Crime Scholarships   https://www.writeaprisoner.com/inmate-victim-scholarship/The Children of Inmates Scholarship Fund and the Children as Victims Scholarship Fund will award annual scholarships to students who are pursuing a college education.
  1. College Success Foundation  https://www.collegesuccessfoundation.org/   Our college services program provides support to increase college graduation rates for low-income students. CSF Scholars have attended colleges in every state of the nation.
  1. Give Back.    https://www.giveback.ngo/  Give Something Back is a mentoring and college scholarship organization that serves students who have faced economic hardship and other adversity, including the incarceration of a parent or placement in the foster care system. So far, Give Back has provided more than $35 million in scholarships to more than 1,500 scholars at partner colleges and universities across the country and is on track to triple that number.
  1. Gates Millennium Scholars   https://www.gatesfoundation.org/  To reduce financial hardships faced by children of low income families. Aimed at African American, Hispanic American, Native American/Alaskan Native, and Asian Pacific Islander American, this scholarship helps students from low income families complete their undergraduate degrees. Students who complete their undergraduate degree may then ask for additional funding for graduate school if they plan to major in education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health, or science.
  1. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Scholarship  https://www.jkcf.org/our-scholarships/   These scholarship programs are designed to encourage and support outstanding students who work hard, demonstrate a strong will to succeed, and have financial need. Our scholarships provide financial assistance and academic support to high school, undergraduate, and graduate students.
  1. Unmet Needs Scholarship   http://www.thesalliemaefund.org/smfnew/scholarship/index.html    As a part of the Sallie Mae Scholarship Funds, the Unmet Need Scholarship Program is available to low-income families with a combined income of less than $30,000. This scholarship ranges from $1,000 to $3,800 and is intended as a supplemental scholarship to fill an “unmet” financial aid need of $1,000 or more. It is available to students who are U.S. citizens, enrolled full-time as an undergraduate at an accredited college or university.
  1. United Negro Scholarship Fund https://www.uncf.org/students  Our support takes many different forms. From merit scholarships to financial assistance, on-campus assistance to professional development, emergency financial aid to community support, UNCF is committed to getting more students like you to and through college.
  1. Creative Corrections Education Foundation   http://ccefscholarships.org/
  2. CCEF provides scholarship and financial aid opportunities to children of the incarcerated and at-risk young adults to enroll in college, trade school and certificate courses.

HELP! with navigating:

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CORRLINKS

Signing Up and Managing an Account.

https://www.fairshake.net/corrlinks-sign-up/

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BUREAU OF PRISONS

Reentry Housing information:

https://www.fairshake.net/bureau-of-prisons-information/

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