Program Specialist for Unaccompanied Tours

December 8, 2005

By Elizabeth Saloom

The Department of State’s Family Liaison Office (FLO) announced that a newly-created position of “program specialist for unaccompanied tours” has been filled with the appointment of Nan Leininger. The position will focus on the needs and concerns of families separated due to service at unaccompanied posts.

If a State Department employee is assigned to an unaccompanied post, it means the employee’s dependants (spouse/children) are not permitted to move to the post—usually because the location is considered too dangerous. A State Department family can be already living at a post when it becomes designated as “unaccompanied.” In this case, the family has to leave while the employee stays.

In her new position, Leininger is charged with maintaining regular communication with family members, providing information, referrals and guidance, developing programs to serve both adults and children, and advocating for services as needed. According to FLO, the goal is to create an interactive “virtual community” of mutually supportive families who share the same situation.

State Department employees are reminded that they should complete the Contact Information for Families of Employees on Unaccompanied Tours Form, which may be completed and e-mailed from FLO’s site at www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/c14521.htm.

Family members or employees currently assigned to, or recently returned from, unaccompanied posts are invited to contact Leininger at (202) 647-1076 or (800) 440-0397 or by e-mail to LeiningerNW@state.gov.

Unaccompanied Tours: Support and Information

Taking an assignment at an unaccompanied post, or being assigned to a post that becomes unaccompanied, impacts the Foreign Service employee and family members in a number of different ways, according to FLO. This can happen quickly, in the case of a post’s status being changed. In any case, the family will have to cope with everyday issues without the participation of the State Department employee at the post. FLO said children may act out their anger over the departure of one parent. Parents of the employee may present their own concerns regarding the assignment. FLO has a Web site where families can read the stories of others who have been in a similar situation at: www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/c14539.htm.