# Understanding the PARENT Act of 2024

This bill creates a new federal grant program designed to help children in foster care maintain relationships with their parents who are incarcerated. Right now, when a parent goes to prison and their child ends up in foster care, there's often little coordination between the prison system and child welfare agencies to keep them connected. This bill aims to change that by funding demonstration projects in states that want to try new approaches.

Here's what the program would actually do: States can apply for federal grants (up to $35 million per year) to create partnerships between their child welfare agencies and prison systems. These partnerships would work together to make it easier for incarcerated parents and their foster children to stay in touch. The grants would pay for things like transportation costs to visit prisons, video call technology, phone calls, and even creating better visitation spaces inside prisons that are appropriate for children. The program also requires at least nine days per year of in-person visits between children and their incarcerated parents, along with weekly communication through phone calls or video.

Beyond just visits, the bill funds case management services to help incarcerated parents navigate the system and understand what's happening with their child's case. It also provides legal assistance and requires training for prison and child welfare staff on why these relationships matter. The idea is that maintaining parent-child bonds can help with the child's emotional well-being and might even affect decisions about whether parental rights get terminated. States would have to contribute at least 25 percent of the funding themselves, and the program would run from 2026 through 2029, with the federal government evaluating whether it actually improves outcomes for these children and families.