DoD Summit Addresses Family Coping

November 29, 2005

By John Buhl

The Department of Defense (DoD) held a summit earlier this month to provide guidance on how to help children adjust to the stress and trauma of having a parent serving overseas in the military.

The summit, called “When Duty Calls—Supporting Military Families Through Challenging Times,” was run with the help of Zero to Three, a national organization promoting the healthy development of infants and toddlers.

John Molino, DoD deputy undersecretary for military community and family policy, emphasized the importance of the summit’s mission, saying, “There are 332,000 children under 3 years of age in our active duty families, and there are 109,000 infants and toddlers in the families of our Guard and Reserve forces.”

Molino stated that the summit helped attendees “learn more about strategies to help our children and their families effectively cope with a high stress environment, the impact of national disasters, and the consequences of war.”

Attendees for the summit came from 170 different military installations, from locations including Korea, Europe and Japan. A variety of specialists in child care, social work and other family treatment fields were also at the summit to provide a range of expertise.

Molino told the summit attendees that he hoped that their presence would “result in new, collaborative initiatives, greater understanding and proactive, preventative interventions to make a positive difference in the lives of our youngest children.”

DoD began providing nonmedical counseling for military families to help them deal with the stress of deployments—and reunions. The counseling covers topics ranging from parent and child communications and single parenting to deployment stress, financial pressures and career and education counseling.

The counseling is also available beyond TRICARE-covered military installations, with access for families that do not live near military facilities. “Access to this kind of counseling is especially important for family members of those who are serving tours in Iraq and the mobilized Guard and Reserve units who may live a great distance from the programs offered on our installations,” Molino said.

DoD first established its partnership with Zero to Three after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to improve services for families with young children.