MFGP Hub · Guides for Professionals
These guides are written for social workers, educators, mentors, reentry staff, and advocates who support families impacted by incarceration and justice-impacted youth ages 12–24. They are free to read, share, and print.
Anyé's journey required her to be brave and vocal. Not everyone can be, and no one should have to be. Some people will never want to tell their story, and they deserve help anyway. You should not have to hand over your circumstances to get support.
A plain-language guide to kinship care: what it is, how to find your state kinship navigator program, what benefits relative caregivers can ask about, and where to get support.
Use this guide to walk a relative caregiver through the first three calls: 211, the school foster/homeless liaison, and the state kinship navigator program.
Read the guideHow to prepare a child for visiting an incarcerated parent: getting approved, typical visitation dress codes and rules, what to bring, and how to handle the ride home.
Print the dress-code and 'before you go' sections for families; facility rules change and families are often turned away.
Read the guideHow families send money to an incarcerated loved one, what phone, video, and mail contact really costs, and how to keep a child's connection steady without destabilizing the household budget.
Help families set a monthly contact budget before they open an account; phone and messaging costs escalate quickly.
Read the guideWhere students impacted by incarceration and foster care can find scholarships, how eligibility usually works, an application timeline, and how to write about lived experience safely.
Share this timeline with students in the spring of their junior year so they are ready to apply by fall.
Read the guideWhat juvenile expungement and record sealing do, who typically qualifies, the general steps, and where justice-impacted youth and families can get free legal help.
Use this guide to encourage youth to attend a free expungement clinic and bring their court paperwork, school records, and proof of completed requirements.
Read the guideWhat a caregiver authorization affidavit does, what it does not do, how relatives use it to enroll a child in school and approve routine medical care, and how the form is named state by state.
This is the fastest unblock for informal kinship placements. Pair it with the district's foster/homeless liaison so enrollment happens the same week rather than after a custody hearing.
Read the guideWhat a kinship navigator program does, how to find your state's program, exactly what to ask for on the first call, and what to do when the program has a waitlist or does not exist near you.
Keep the 'what to ask on the first call' list on hand — it converts a vague referral into a documented set of next steps for the family.
Read the guideStep-by-step help locating an incarcerated family member: federal, state, and county searches, what information you need first, why searches come back empty, and what to do next.
The 'why a search returns nothing' section resolves most family calls: wrong custody level, name spelling, in-transit status, or a hold in another county.
Read the guideAge-appropriate language for telling a child their parent is incarcerated, what not to say, how to answer the hardest questions, and how to handle school, peers, and the weeks that follow.
The age-by-age language and the 'what not to say' list work well as a handout in family sessions, school counseling, and reentry programs.
Read the guideMFGP can co-design workshops, train your staff, or speak to your community about storytelling, family support, and pathways for justice-impacted youth. Reach out to talk through what would work best for your team.
The #FKLM Family Blueprint is a self-paced portal with lessons on legal literacy, co-parenting, caregiver wellness, and education. It is built to complement the work you already do with families.
