Women at War by Ritchie Elspeth Cameron;Naclerio Anne L.;

Author:Ritchie, Elspeth Cameron;Naclerio, Anne L.; [Ritchie, Elspeth Cameron;Naclerio, Anne L.;]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780199344536
Publisher: OxfordUP
Published: 2015-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

THE FAMILY CARE PLAN

A family care plan is a mandatory document that all Service Members with children must submit to their commands. This document is considered an essential part of operational readiness. It is devised to pre-plan for child-care arrangements when a parent deploys or could be deployable. There are roughly 20,000 couples in which both husband and wife are in military service, and 30,000 single military mothers. Forty-eight percent of married women in the military are married to a man who is also in the military, but only 7% of men are married to an active duty female (Defense Manpower Data Center via Military OneSource, 2012).

It is important to understand that the family care plan is not choosing a babysitter or a preschool. The mother will be deployed for months, conceivably even over a year. Child-care arrangement vary from the husbands of military mothers, their children’s fathers with whom the mother is not married, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and, in some cases, family friends. The family care plan can be especially stressful for single mothers (Ritchie, 2001 December). Women may find that they have problems with the consistency and reliability of family care plans before and during deployment. It is impossible to predict unforeseen complications in care, such as when a grandparent becomes sick, a caretaker has legal problems, or a father relocates for a job.

For example, I interviewed one woman whose family care plan stated that her child would stay with the child’s biological father, whom she had divorced two years earlier. This father developed a drug habit and became increasingly unreliable and difficult to contact. She asked to return from deployment to ensure the safety of her child and was legally charged by her command for not having a proper family care plan.

Women with children have much more to prepare for when they are about to deploy or go underway than merely having their backpacks or sea bags fully “squared away.” Clinicians can assist mothers in the military by being supportive as they navigate mother-specific challenges in deployment preparation. Clinicians may consider the following questions to discuss with patients and clients in preparation for deployment:

• Is there a chance you will deploy in the next year?

• Do you have a family readiness plan?

• Do you have a power of attorney?

• Who would act as your child’s guardian if you deploy?

• Will your child need to move to a different location to be with the guardian? Would this move entail that the family will be outside travel to a military base?

• Does your guardian have reliable transportation? Reliable income?

• Does your guardian have legal problems? Substance abuse problems?

• Have you discussed how your guardian will discipline your child and set boundaries with your child?

• Have you discussed school or day-care provisions with the guardian?

• How will your guardian have access to emergency monetary funds?

• Who will be the temporary guardian if your assigned guardian becomes ill?

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