The reports in this section address quality-of-life and readiness issues for service members and their families. The information is useful to members of the military community, service providers and others, including government agencies, media, researchers and advocacy groups. Topics here include children and youth, spouse education and employment, finances, personal and family life, and special needs programs.

RECURRING REPORTS

Special Needs Program Reports

The Office of Special Needs serves and supports military families that have members with special needs. This annual report to Congress details community outreach activities, service gaps and stakeholder education efforts.

Military Community Advocacy Reports

Military Community Advocacy oversees and manages the Defense Department’s congressionally mandated programs responsible for the prevention and response to child abuse and neglect, domestic abuse, intimate partner abuse, child and youth initiated problematic sexual behaviors and harmful behaviors in children and youth.

Military Family Readiness Reports

This annual report to Congress describes Defense Department plans and program assessment pertaining to military family readiness.

OTHER REPORTS

Military Spouse Licensure: State Best Practices and Strategies for Achieving Reciprocity

The Military Spouse License Portability Assessment report informs policymakers of the time it takes military spouses to obtain an occupational license when they relocate out of state due to a PCS. The report includes findings as to the time and cost involved with the application process, supporting documentation requirements and information accessibility. It also includes recommendations to improve the licensing process and detailed findings for each state and the District of Columbia.

Quadrennial Quality of Life Review Report

The military community is becoming increasingly diverse and geographically dispersed. This report discusses quality-of-life topics that will affect future policies and programs.

Barriers to Portability of Occupational Licenses

This report to Congress addresses the current state of license portability for military spouses, which is the result of six years’ worth of consultations among the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and the states.

Report on Improvements to Partner Criteria of the Military Spouse Employment Partnership Program

This report presents results of the evaluation of the Military Spouse Employment Partnership program, the plan to implement changes to partner criteria, data on new partnerships resulting from the evaluation and data on the utility of the MSEP program. It reports on the number of spouses applying for jobs through MSEP, the average length of time jobs are available before being filled or removed from the MSEP Job Search, and the average number of new jobs posted to the MSEP Job Search each month.