Training Resources

Guides

The following publications provide additional information on military children and youth topics to educate service providers.

Department of Defense

DoD Special Needs Parent Tool Kit The DoD Special Needs Parent Tool Kit is designed to assist service providers in training and assisting military families and leadership to understand and cope with the challenges that face special needs families. Included as a supplement to the Toolkit, the Facilitator's Guide for the DoD Special Needs Parents Tool Kit serves as an effective and comprehensive tool for service providers to use while teaching each of the major topics of the Tool Kit. The Facilitator's Guide also contains a brief for military leadership describing the challenges faced by military families with special needs and providing details about the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP).

DoD/Youth Sponsorship Tool Kit The DoD/Youth Sponsorship Tool Kit provides installations with a basic step-by-step outline to assist in getting a successful Youth Sponsorship Program started. Included in the tool Kit are resources that serve as roadmaps to planning and implementation. The tool Kit is designed to be used collaboratively by service providers, youth, schools, and youth-serving installation agencies.

Educator's Guide to the Military Child During Deployment Sponsored by the DoD Educational Opportunities Directorate, this Guide is designed to assist educators in supporting military children during a deployment.

Parent's Guide to the Military Child During Deployment and Reunion Sponsored by the DoD Educational Opportunities Directorate, this Guide is designed to assist parents in supporting their children during a deployment.

Support for Military Children & Adolescents Developed in conjunction with the Department of Defense, the American Academy of Pediatrics has created two videos aimed at helping teens and elementary school-aged family members cope with the mental strain of the deployment of a parent: "Military Youth Coping with Separation: When Family Members Deploy" and "Mr. Poe and Friends Discuss Reunion After Deployment." There are facilitator's guides available for both videos through the website.

Army

Resources for Military Children Affected by Deployment Compiled by the US Army Family and Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Command (FMWRC), this listing of resources includes books recommended for children, deployment kits for children and families, deployment materials and resources for parents and service providers, and a listing of websites for children, parents, and teachers.

Child Care 101! What Commanders Need to Know Published by the Army Child Development Program, this guide provides commanders with answers to questions about child care, and information on the importance of child care, availability of child care, family child care facilities, families facing deployment, accreditation and certification, and fees.

School Transition Services 101! What Commanders Need to Know This guide answers commanders’ questions about the School Transition Services program, the program infrastructure, education and transition issues and their implications for the military community, and working with parents, children, and the surrounding school districts. 

Youth Services 101! What Commanders Need to Know This guide answers questions on the Army Youth programs, program availability, patron eligibility requirements, sports and fitness programs available, funding and parent fees, program certification, and deployment support. 

Navy

Navy Exceptional Family Member (EFMP) Resource Guide The Navy EFMP Resource Guide describes the process of enrollment in the program, the forms required, and provides additional resources for Sailors and their families.

Other Guides

Answering the Call, Wherever My Family Is: That's Home! Developed by the Collaboration to AdoptUsKids, this guide provides a roadmap to quality adoption services readily available to military families. It also lists practical advice for service providers working with Service members and their families throughout the adoption process.

Caring for Kids after Trauma and Death: A Guide for Parents and Professionals Developed by the Institute for Trauma and Stress, this guide provides comprehensive insights and suggestions on how school professionals, mental health and family program service providers, and parents can help children facing trauma and death.

Little Listeners in an Uncertain World: Coping Strategies for You and Your Child During Deployment or When a Crisis Occurs Published by Zero to Three, this is a downloadable pamphlet designed to help military families understand how separation and deployment affect young children

Sesame Workshop "Talk, Listen, Connect: Deployment, Homecoming, Changes" During Spring 2008, Sesame Workshop, the makers of Sesame Street, released a video workshop that aims to aid children in understanding and unbundling the tangle of complex emotions many feel in the midst of a mother or father's tour of duty away from home. The video also broaches the difficult subject of dealing with a parent's debilitating war injury. The video is a follow-up to Sesame Street's previous military video, "When Parents are Deployed."

The "So Far" Guide for Helping Children and Youth Cope with the Deployment of a Parent in the Military reserves Published by the Strategic Outreach to Families of All Reservists (SOFAR), this guide is designed to assist families of Reserve Component Service members with young children in dealing with deployment and separation.

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has created informational booklets, Traumatic Grief in Military Children,to be used by educators and medical providers to better serve military children who have suffered a loss and who may be experiencing traumatic grief.

• Information for Educators
• Information for Medical Providers