U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) announced that the Hawaii Youth Services Network has received a $165,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, to train adult volunteers as mentors to children of prisoners.

The Hawaii Youth Services Network's will use the resources to develop and maintain a coordinated statewide system to mentor children of prisoners, including efforts by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu, Hawaii Intergenerational Network, Kahi Mohala, Kauai Team Challenge/Waipa Foundation, Keiki o ka `Aina Family Learning Centers, Marimed Foundation, Maui Youth and Family Services, Hawaii Department of Public Safety and Hawaii Office of Youth Services. Coordination and collaboration between these parties will ensure that necessary services are provided to the estimated 5,520 children in Hawaii who have a parent in a state prison.

"Traumatic separations between children and parents often occur when parents are removed from their homes through arrest and incarceration," Akaka noted. "The Hawaii Youth Services Network's efforts to provide children of prisoners with an array of effective mentoring services and to preserve a parent-child connection during the incarceration period deserve our support. We must do all we can to minimize the negative impact on these children and help them to live happy and healthy lives."