WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Oct. 15, 2015) -- Budget cuts do not mean the end of Family programs, Army officials said. In fact, many units, especially the Reserve component, have increased their outreach.
Finding new ways to provide support to Families in the face of budget cuts requires a little creativity, said Dee Geise, chief of the Soldier Family Readiness Division at Installation Management Command, or IMCOM, and assistant chief of staff for installation management.
Family program representatives from the active-duty Army, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard spoke about their challenges during a Family forum at the 2015 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition, Oct. 14.
Facing major budget cuts under sequestration, former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno directed a task force to look at every Family program.
Over several months, representatives from garrisons, Army headquarters, the Guard and the Reserves categorized each program based on its impact on readiness: high, medium, low. Programs, such as the Exceptional Family Member Program, Survivor Outreach Services, School Age Programs and Family Advocacy, were deemed high impact.
Geise said that while the Army Family Action Plan, or AFAP, ended up in the low impact category, that doesn't mean it's not important or that the Army isn't committed to it. IMCOM has saved a million dollars simply by moving AFAP conferences online.
"In regard to the programs that we currently have and we currently execute, your voice is critical in how we shape and deliver those," she said. "But what we do is evaluate them. ... Are we increasing readiness for the Army? Are we decreasing risky behavior? Increasing help-seeking behaviors? Are we easing the stress of transition? There is a scientific process that we go through with these programs every year. There are longitudinal studies."
Geise said the bottom line is that Family readiness equals Soldier readiness.
FAMILY RESPONSE
"It was good to hear that they're keeping [Army Community Services, or ACS] strong," said Francie Graese, an Army wife and mother, who attended the forum.
"I think ACS should be the very first place a spouse goes," Graese said. "It's always encouraging to hear your key leaders say that Families are important. That part I do enjoy." She added that she would like to know more about how various programs have been categorized.
Military and community partners are also key when it comes to saving money and providing better services, said Alecia R. Grady, chief of the Armed Forces Community Service Division on Joint Base Lewis McChord, or JBLM, Washington.
Her office works closely with the human resources directorate, for example, visiting units at the same time as risk reduction inventories. This saves time and ensures they're seeing the issues that individual units face. That way they can customize programs and services. The office works with Madigan Army Medical Center to identify and reach candidates for the New Parent Support Program and the Exceptional Family Member Program.
They also partner with off-post agencies.
"We're very proud of the United Way 211, which is a county-wide call center," Grady said. "They actually hired a veteran to work in the call center who was very familiar with the military and now all the operators at the 211 call center, when someone calls in, they ask if they are affiliated with the military. If they are, there's a drop-down box that gives them a menu of all the services we provide on JBLM."
Minnesota's Department of Veterans Affairs has taken that to the next level. Through the state's "Beyond the Yellow Ribbon" program, the state has mobilized entire communities - 97 networks across 213 communities - to support any service member, veteran or Family member, said Annette Brechon Kyper, director of military outreach for the state.
To become a Yellow Ribbon community, towns must undergo a nine-to-12-month certification process, meeting certain requirements, such as creating a steering committee of local officials in key areas and identifying every military-related child in the local school district. After communities are certified, they then must complete a checklist every year of requirements that officials can adjust based on changing needs.
"We ask them to methodically go through every area of their community, find resources, identify the needs of their military-connected residents and to find a way to meet those needs," she said.
Local communities want to help service members, she and Grady agreed, but someone needs to tell them what needs Soldiers and their Families actually have.
Of course, the National Guard and Reserve are already based in their local communities. But Soldiers in those components, and their Families, don't always have easy access to services on an installation. In response, the National Guard has developed Family assistance centers, or FACs.
They "lend us a link from the local community to our command structure and to our command on assisting Families," said Lt. Col. Gerald R. White, chaplain and state Family program director for the Utah Army National Guard, explaining that Utah's 10 FACs provide financial counseling, Red Cross message assistance, TRICARE and ID services, counseling and emergency financial support. They work closely with local communities, and also assist veterans and retirees, as well as service members from other branches.
For its part, the Army Reserve has created "Fort Family," a 24-7 assistance hotline that has been set up for Soldiers and their Families. Fort Family can be reached accessed at 866-345-8248. The hotline provides survivor outreach services, child, youth and school services, and more.
"That phone will be picked up by a live person ... who is a caring, compassionate, well-trained person who will do whatever they can to assist that Soldier or that Family member," said Maj. Lisa D. Yanity, Fort Family Outreach and Support Center program manager. "Our outreach specialists are credentialed victim advocates because we are now the suicide prevention hotline for the Army Reserves as well as the SHARP hotline."
The difference between Fort Family and other hotlines is that Fort Family is also proactive. They make wellness calls 30, 60 and 90 days after deployments. They also notify Families of possible natural disasters such as a hurricane, and then check on Soldiers and Family after those emergencies.
Yanity noted that she even received a call recently at her home in South Carolina.
"I was sitting there with my spouse and the dogs in their life jackets waiting for the roof to come down and that phone rang and said, 'Hey, we're here. These are some resources,' it's now very personal. ... They make it personal. They are there, we are there to help our Reserve Soldiers no matter what that issue is."
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