Pillar Two: The Grant Program
Dire situations shouldn't wait for "better days." The Waymark Foundation provides grants and bridge funding to ensure that financial barriers do not prevent a child from receiving life-saving intervention. We focus on the "Missing Middle" — the costs that insurance refuses to cover and that families cannot carry alone.
Clinical & Diagnostic Gap Funding
Before a child can get help, they need an answer. Many high-level forensic and psychological evaluations are not covered by standard insurance but are required by courts and residential programs.
What we cover: fees for private forensic evaluations, neuropsychological testing, and specialized diagnostic assessments.
The "Right to Connection" Travel Fund
When a child is placed out-of-state for care, the distance can feel like a second abandonment. A parent shouldn't have to choose between paying the electric bill and seeing their child.
What we cover: fuel cards, airfare, and modest lodging grants for parents to attend family therapy sessions, court hearings, or mandated visitations.
Residential & Stabilization Bridge Grants
When a child is in a state of "nowhere to go," they need a safe place to land. Often, insurance will deny a residential stay after only a few days, leaving the family to foot the bill or bring a high-risk child back into an unsafe home.
What we cover: "bridge" payments for specialized residential treatment centers, short-term stabilization beds, and therapeutic boarding schools.
Specialized Therapy & Legal Advocacy
Standard "talk therapy" and traditional public defenders often fail children with deep-seated abandonment wounds and authority defiance. These children require intensive, attachment-based modalities and specialized legal protection.
What we cover: clinical grants for EMDR, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), and Attachment-Based Family Therapy — plus legal advocacy grants for private attorney fees in juvenile justice, IEP/educational disputes, or dependency court.
Our grant tiers
Three strategic tiers address the different stages of a behavioral crisis — from maintaining family bonds to securing emergency residential care.
| Grant type | Amount | Purpose | Response time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1: Connection Grant | $250 – $750 | Fuel, lodging, and travel costs to maintain the parent-child bond during out-of-state placement. | 14 days |
| Tier 2: Diagnostic Grant | $1,500 – $2,500 | Retainers for forensic evaluations, attorney fees, neuropsychological testing, and expert second opinions. | 14 days |
| Tier 3: Bridge Grant | $2,500 – $5,000 | Emergency deposits for residential care or "gap week" funding during insurance appeals. | 2–4 days |
Grants are reviewed bi-weekly; Tier 3 "Bridge" applications are triaged within 2–4 days to prevent a child from being left with nowhere to go. See the full eligibility & program guidelines for income ranges, required documentation, and program exclusions.
How the grants work
Emergency turnaround
Because we know crises don't happen on a 9-to-5 schedule, we aim for a 2–4 day review window for emergency stabilization grants.
Direct-to-provider
To ensure transparency and speed, all clinical and residential grants are paid directly to the facility or healthcare provider.