The Department of Defense’s Office of Special Needs has launched a two-year pilot to test a new tool that assesses staffing levels for its Exceptional Family Member Program Family Support staff. The EFMP Family Support Case Management and Staffing Tool is research-based and designed to determine how many staff members are necessary to best meet the needs of military families with special needs at each unique military installation.
The tool was jointly developed by OSN and the EFMP Family Support Working Group. It is based on research on staffing ratios used among civilian agencies with functions similar to those performed by EFMP Family Support staff, and it will give OSN a better sense of what staffing levels are optimal for each installation.
“We have heard from our EFMP families that we need to fine tune family support staffing at military installations to ensure they get the support and services they need,” said Karen Terry, a Program Analyst for the Office of Special Needs. “This pilot test is an important step in making changes across service branches to improve services to families.”
Two installations from each service branch have been selected for the pilot. Pilot locations were nominated after a table-top test of the staffing tool indicated a need for additional staff. Participating Army, Air Force and Navy installations will each receive one additional EFMP staff member for the duration of the pilot.
Participating installations include:
- Army: Fort Carson, Fort Stewart
- Navy: Naval Base San Diego, Naval Air Station Corpus Christi
- Air Force: Barksdale Air Force Base, Joint Base Langley-Eustis
- Marine Corps: MCB Hawaii, MCRD San Diego
The Exceptional Family Member Program is a Department of Defense program that works with other military and civilian agencies to provide comprehensive and coordinated community support, housing, educational, medical and personnel services worldwide to U.S. military families with special needs.
