Safeguarding Children of Incarcerated Parents: Developing and Implementing Family Strengthening Policies at Correctional Institutions at the Local and State level | 16CS17

Opportunity Information: Apply for 16CS17

The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) grant opportunity titled "Safeguarding Children of Incarcerated Parents: Developing and Implementing Family Strengthening Policies at Correctional Institutions at the Local and State level" is a discretionary cooperative agreement (Funding Opportunity Number 16CS17; CFDA 16.601) focused on improving outcomes for both incarcerated parents and their children by strengthening and preserving family connections during incarceration. The underlying rationale is grounded in research showing that maintaining healthy family relationships while a parent is incarcerated is linked to better reentry outcomes, including lower recidivism, and that positive, stable communication between incarcerated parents and their children can support child well-being. NIC emphasizes that family contact is often difficult to sustain because of practical barriers such as shifts in family structure, long travel distances to facilities, and limited financial resources for calls, visits, and other communication, even though correctional institutions can adopt policies that reduce these barriers without compromising safety and security.

The main purpose of the award is to support an organization with corrections expertise in creating evidence-informed, model family-strengthening policies that can realistically be adopted by local jails and state prisons. In addition to writing the policies themselves, the awardee is expected to develop practical training materials that help facilities implement those policies consistently. The initiative is explicitly designed to reduce the traumatic impact of parental incarceration on children while also improving the incarcerated parent’s ability to reintegrate successfully after release. Because this is a cooperative agreement, NIC’s intent is typically that the agency will be actively involved with the awardee during development, refinement, and implementation, rather than simply providing funds with minimal interaction.

NIC frames this project as a corrections-focused companion to the earlier and widely recognized "Safeguarding Children of Arrested Parents" effort, which created a model protocol for law enforcement. That earlier project, developed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), produced a suite of implementation supports including a model protocol document, a white paper documenting how the protocol was created, training delivered through webinars and conference presentations, and a training video. NIC points to that work as a template for what the corrections version should look like: a clearly documented model policy framework, an explanation of the development process, and accessible training and dissemination products that agencies can use without cost barriers.

A central expectation is that the model policies for correctional settings will be created through a collaborative, multidisciplinary process. NIC envisions engagement from subject matter experts spanning corrections operations and safety, jail and prison administration, and experts in child welfare, trauma, and the specific needs of children with incarcerated parents. The aim is to ensure the policies are both operationally feasible inside secure environments and aligned with best practices for minimizing trauma and supporting child-parent relationships. After development, the awardee must distribute the policies and training resources and then implement them at selected pilot sites. Importantly, NIC expects implementation to be carefully tracked at those pilot locations, meaning the awardee should have a clear plan for monitoring uptake, documenting how the policies are used in practice, and capturing implementation lessons that can inform broader adoption by other jurisdictions.

Eligibility is broad and includes nonprofit organizations (including faith-based, community, and tribal organizations), for-profit organizations (including tribal for-profit organizations), and institutions of higher education (including tribal colleges and universities). A key condition is that for-profit recipients must agree to waive any profit or fee for services, reinforcing that the project deliverables are intended for public benefit rather than commercial gain. NIC also welcomes applications that involve partnerships among multiple entities, but it requires a single eligible applicant to serve as the lead organization with primary responsibility for administering the funds and managing the full project; additional partners must be proposed as subrecipients.

In terms of funding specifics, the opportunity lists an award ceiling of $1,125,000 and was originally posted on June 23, 2016 with an original closing date of August 8, 2016. NIC also notes that it may choose to make awards from applications submitted under the solicitation in future fiscal years depending on application quality and the availability of appropriations. Overall, the grant is aimed at producing practical, field-tested policy and training tools that correctional agencies can adopt to support safe, developmentally informed family connection practices, with the broader goal of improving child well-being and strengthening reentry success.

• The National Institute of Corrections in the other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Safeguarding Children of Incarcerated Parents: Developing and Implementing Family Strengthening Policies at Correctional Institutions at the Local and State level" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.601.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-06-23.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2016-08-08. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,125,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for 16CS17

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: