A person can not "receive" an IRA contribution.  What EXACTLY happened?  Are you saying the father put in own money into an IRA account that had the child's name?  If so, it is treated as if the child "made" the contribution (he didn't "receive" it).

Did the have enough "taxable compensation" (such as W-2 wages or self employment profit) that he was allowed to make the IRA contribution?