While it is true that children from military families live unique and interesting lives, it is also true that they face many challenges and special circumstances that civilian children and families don't experience. These can include gaps in school attendance and learning due to frequent moves, being separated from a parent who has been deployed, and a sense of isolation in the midst of a civilian community. This unique guide provides parents with the information they need to choose a welcoming school or daycare program and suggests steps they can take to advocate for their children. It also highlights the types of questions parents should ask about how their children are faring socially, emotionally, and academically, such as: What can I do to help my child make a smooth transition to a new school? How can I support my child academically? What resources or staff does my school have to meet the needs of military children?

How does growing up in a military family affect the educational experiences of children and youth? What can K–12 school practitioners do to support these students' academic, behavioral, and social-emotional success? This book describes effective ways to help students and their families navigate such challenges as relocation, school transitions, and parental deployment. Pamela Fenning presents strengths-based assessment, intervention, and prevention strategies that reflect deep knowledge of military culture and fit perfectly within a schoolwide multi-tiered system of support (MTSS). In a convenient large-size format, the book includes a reproducible data collection form that can be downloaded and printed for repeated use. This book is in The Guilford Practical Intervention in the Schools Series, edited by Sandra M. Chafouleas.

Serving Military and Veteran Families introduces readers to the unique culture of military families, their resilience, and the challenges of military life. It reviews the latest research, theories, policies, and programs to prepare readers for understanding and working with military and veteran families. It also offers practical knowledge about the challenges that come with military family life and the federal policies, laws, and programs that support military and veteran families. Boasting a new full-color design and rich with pedagogy, the text also includes several boxed elements in each chapter. "Spotlight on Research" highlights researchers who study military and veteran families with the goal of informing and enriching the work of family support professionals. "Voices from the Frontline" presents the real-life stories of support program leaders, practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and most importantly service members and veterans and their families. "Tips from the Frontline" offers concrete, hands-on suggestions based on the experiences and wisdom of the people featured in the text and the broader research and practice communities. Third Edition features: Streamlined focus on theories and the addition of the contextual model of family stress and life course theory, including an interview with Glen Elder in which he shares his perspective on the development of life course theory and how it can be applied to understand development across individuals and cohorts. Personal accounts of 70 program leaders, practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and, significantly, service members, veterans, and family members who offer insight into their personal experiences, successes, and challenges associated with military life. 20 new interviews with service members, veterans, family members, researchers, and clinicians that bring important topics to life. Updated demographics and descriptions of service members, veterans, and their families. Expanded descriptions of mental health treatment approaches with an emphasis on including family members. Updated exercises focused on providing services to military and veteran families. New online resources designed to further enrich discourse and discussion. Serving Military and Veteran Families is designed as a core text for advanced undergraduate or graduate courses on military and veteran families, or as a supplement for related courses taught in family science, human development, family life education, social work, and clinical or counseling psychology programs. Providing a foundation for working with increased sensitivity, knowledge, and respect, the text can also be a useful resource for helping professionals who work with military and veteran families.

This reference examines the wide-ranging impact of military life on families, parenting, and child development. It examines the complex family needs of this diverse population, especially as familiar issues such as trauma, domestic violence, and child abuse manifest differently than in civilian life. Expert contributors review findings on deployed mothers, active-duty fathers, and other military parents while offering evidence for interventions and prevention programs to enhance children’s healthy adjustment in this highly structured yet uncertain context. Its emphasis on resource and policy improvements keeps the book focused on the evolution of military families in the face of future change and challenges. Included in the coverage: Impacts of military life on young children and their parents. Parenting school-age children and adolescents through military deployments. Parenting in military families faced with combat-related injury, illness, or death. The special case of civilian service members: supporting parents in the National Guard and Reserves. Interventions to support and strengthen parenting in military families: state of the evidence. Military parenting in the digital age: existing practices, new possibilities. Addressing a major need in family and parenting studies, Parenting and Children’s Resilience in Military Families is necessary reading for scholars and practitioners interested in parenting and military family research.

The goal of the first part of this chapter is to understand the uniqueness of the military as a culture. Next the chapter provides an overview of sociocultural constructs associated with military culture. The second part of the chapter presents an overview of diversity elements (e.g., gender, sexual orientation) intersecting with military culture. Understanding the diversity within the US Armed Forces is clinically relevant for culturally responsive mental health service delivery to military service members. The third part of this chapter addresses military cultural issues with potential to affect the mental health of military service members. We describe mental health challenges that have been experienced by military personnel in light of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the US involvement in the Global War on Terror, and highlight the resilience of this population under stress. We conclude with recommendations for culturally competent treatment approaches for working with military service members.

The Handbook of Multicultural Mental Health, Second Edition, discusses the impact of cultural, ethnic, and racial variables for the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, service delivery, and development of skills for working with culturally diverse populations. Intended for the mental health practitioner, the book translates research findings into information to be applied in practice. The new edition contains more than 50% new material and includes contributions from established leaders in the field as well as voices from rising stars in the area. It recognizes diversity as extending beyond race and ethnicity to reflect characteristics or experiences related to gender, age, religion, disability, and socioeconomic status. Individuals are viewed as complex and shaped by different intersections and saliencies of multiple elements of diversity. Chapters have been wholly revised and updated, and new coverage includes indigenous approaches to assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental and physical disorders; spirituality; the therapeutic needs of culturally diverse clients with intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities; suicide among racial and ethnic groups; multicultural considerations for treatment of military personnel and multicultural curriculum and training. - Foundations-overview of theory and models - Specialized assessment in a multicultural context - Assessing and treating four major culturally diverse groups in clinical settings - Assessing and treating other culturally diverse groups in clinical settings - Specific conditions/presenting problems in a cultural context - Multicultural competence in clinical settings

While it is true that children from military families live unique and interesting lives, it is also true that they face many challenges and special circumstances that civilian children and families don't experience. These can include gaps in school attendance and learning due to frequent moves, being separated from a parent who has been deployed, and a sense of isolation in the midst of a civilian community. This comprehensive and evidence-informed guide introduces pre- and inservice teachers to this population and provides essential tools to help minimize the impact of military life on student learning. It addresses issues such as: Frequent transitions between schools, gaps in academic progress, social adjustment, parental deployments, and trauma or tragedy. And it shows how practices already being used in your school can be adapted to ease the transition for military students, and it also introduces original strategies, such as: A "Hero Wall" honoring members of the military, friendship or memory gardens, military Appreciation events, writing letters or making care packages for deployed service members.

While it is true that children from military families live unique and interesting lives, it is also true that they face many challenges and special circumstances that civilian children and families don't experience. These can include gaps in school attendance and learning due to frequent moves, being separated from a parent who has been deployed, and a sense of isolation in the midst of a civilian community. This evidence-informed guide introduces school administrators to this population and offers tools to help them implement school-wide programs that will support military students' learning. Written in an engaging style by experts in the field, this practical guide includes: Profiles of principals who have created welcoming school environments for military children and parents. Lessons learning from the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools. A chapter on using data to improve school culture for military students. A chapter on education policies that can improve circumstances for military children. Research highlighting how frequent school transitions and parental deployments affect the education of military children.

While it is true that children from military families live unique and interesting lives, it is also true that they face many challenges and special circumstances that civilian children and families don't experience. These can include gaps in school attendance and learning due to frequent moves, being separated from a parent who has been deployed, and a sense of isolation in the midst of a civilian community. This guide includes: A primer on military culture, research highlighting how frequent school transitions and parental deployments affect the education of military children, guidance for creating school "transition" rooms for acclimating incoming students and parents, and examples of creative and effective projects designed to celebrate military children and support them through frequent school changes, a parent's deployment, or traumatic experiences.