By Rebecca Posante, Deputy Director, Office of Community Support for Military Families with Special Needs, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Military Community and Family Policy)
Our military family members with special needs deserve nothing but the best in services and support. As Deputy Director for the Office of Special Needs within Military Community and Family Policy, I’m personally invested in making sure they get it.
Today, I provided testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on support programs for military families with special needs. I explained that we are committed to maintaining our passion for excellence and service to these very special families. We are proud of what we have accomplished to date, and we are optimistic about our ability to continue to meet family member needs for the long-term.
When we talk about families with special needs, we must be clear. We mean everything from asthma and allergies to autism and Alzheimer’s. We’re talking about young children, adults, and the elderly. We’re talking about both educational and medical needs. With so many families who need special care, the EFMP is an integral part of retaining our military members and keeping them focused and happy.
Our goal at the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) is to ensure that military families with special needs receive the best care and support possible. We do that by focusing on three key areas: identification and enrollment, assignment coordination, and family support. Upon enrollment, families are welcomed into a community of over 120,000 military members who understand the challenges of having a family member with special needs. EFMP enrollment provides families with the opportunity to identify and communicate their family member’s needs.
Once enrolled, families have the benefit of assignment coordination, which ensures that a family member’s needs are considered when a service member is being relocated. Assignment coordination ensures that if a child requires a pediatric cardiologist that the medical personnel at the receiving location can advise Personnel that such care is available. With knowledge of the family member’s special needs, the EFMP can make recommendations for assignment and ensure that Personnel Commands can consider those needs when making the next assignment.
And that brings us to the third component of the EFMP program: family support. Families can contact their local installation EFMP family support providers whenever they have questions or need assistance. EFMP providers offer information and referral for military and community services, access to relocation assistance, financial management, information on local schools and early intervention services, and non-clinical case management if necessary.
We ask so much of our military members and their families. We ask them to sacrifice for our safety and security and they do it with honor and selflessness. But they should not have to sacrifice the health or well-being of their families because of a special need they may have. With the support of the EFMP, military members can continue to concentrate on their mission, knowing their families are well-supported and taken care of. If I can leave the hearing on Thursday having conveyed that message, I know I will have done my job.
If you still have questions about how the EFMP works, please call or visit the EFMP on your installation or visit your Service branch’s EFMP website via the Resources section of the Military OneSource Special Needs page. If you have a personal story related to the EFMP that you would like to share, I would love to hear from you. Please get involved and join our discussion. We will continue advocating and fighting for the exceptional support our families deserve!
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