Frequent family separations and the requirement to move, on average every 3 years, place military families in situations not often experienced in the civilian world. For military families, finding affordable, high quality child care is paramount, if they are to be ready to perform the mission and their jobs. It is also important to military personnel that child care services be consistent and uniform at installations throughout the military. Visit the Children and Teens section Child Development Systems page for more general information about installation child care systems.
Both the Army and Marine Corps have implemented a process to determine and review the best placement and support for children with special needs in the child care setting:
Army Special Needs Accommodation Process (SNAP)
In the Army, the Special Needs Accommodation Process (SNAP) is a subcommittee of the installation Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) committee. The corps team membership consists of the installation EFMP manager, Children and Youth Services coordinator, Army public health nurse and parents, augmented, as appropriated, with CYS program staff, CYS school liaison officer, school personnel, staff judge advocate representative, family advocacy program manager, and other medical personnel.
The installation EFMP manager assumes or designates a chairperson of the team. The team will:
Explores child care installation and youth supervision options for children/youth that have medical diagnosis that reflects life threatening conditions, functional limitations or behavioral/psychological conditions.
Determine child care and youth supervision placement considering feasibility of program accommodations and availability of services to support child/youth needs.
Recommends placement setting that accommodates to the extent possible the child's or youth's individual needs.
Develop and implement DA Form 7625-3 (SNAP Team Care Plan)
Conduct annual periodic review of the child/youth individual SNAP CAre Plan and/or, as requested, by CYS.
Establish an installation SNAP Review Team consisting of garrison commander or designee, staff judge advocate, installation EFMP manager, and CYS coordinator. The Review Team will be available, upon request, to ensure that a SNAP Team has explored all options for reasonable accommodation.
Marine Corps Special Needs Evaluation Review Team (SNERT)
In the Marine Corps, the SNERT is a team of qualified personnel whose goal is to make an assessment of the accommodations necessary for a special needs child to participate in Marine Corps Children, Youth and Teen Programs (CYTP) and determine the most appropriate placement for the child.
Installation SNERT teams report to the installation commander and shall include, but not be limited to the following members:
CYTP Administrator
EFMP Coordinator
Medical personnel
Parent(s) of child
Child or youth, when appropriate
Other applicable CYTP or community agency personnel
