Changing Lives - Signature Presidential Initiatives

The Issue

Approximately two million children in America are separated from at least one parent who is serving time in a Federal or State correctional facility.
Mentoring programs can provide these children with opportunities to develop a trusting relationship with a supportive, caring adult in a stable environment that can promote healthy values and strong families.
Research indicates that mentoring can reduce mentee risk behaviors and thus may also reduce the likelihood of the mentee's future involvement in the criminal justice system.

The Response: Mentoring Children of Prisoners

In 2002, Former President Bush announced the Mentoring Children of Prisoners (MCP) program in his State of the Union address as an effort to pair the children of incarcerated individuals with compassionate adult volunteers in their communities.
The MCP program works to mitigate the risk factors faced by children of incarcerated parents by matching them with a dependable mentor to help teach them the skills they need to succeed in life and provide a healthy relationship with a caring, supportive adult.
Since the launch of the initiative, the Bush Administration has invested about $257 million for MCP grants to organizations in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
To date, more than 440 3-year grants have been awarded to more than 320 faith-based and community-based organizations, as well as State and local governments and tribal consortia.
Beginning in 2008, the program is providing vouchers to families of children of prisoners so that they can enroll their children in accredited mentoring programs of their choice in a program called Caregiver’s Choice.

The Results

MCP launched with the goal of making 100,000 mentor matches. More than 107,000 children matches have been created between children and caring adults.
In FY 2007, the program made 30,307 more matches than in any other fiscal year. This figure reflects that on an average day approximately 83 children of prisoners are matched with a compassionate adult in their community as a direct result of the MCP program.
These children, whose average age is 10.5 years, consistently indicate positive experiences while in the MCP program with their mentors. In 2006, 85% of surveyed youths reported a composite score of “good” or “very good” when describing the quality of the mentoring relationship; this rose to 90% of respondents in 2007.

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