The Exceptional Family Member Program, or EFMP, provides programs for military dependents with special needs and helps them find services and information both online and at their duty station. (Jason Bortz/U.S. Navy)
The Navy has changed its Exceptional Family Member Program to tailor sailors’ duty assignments to the services available to their special-needs family members.
Case managers will coordinate those assignments, rather than sending sailors to duty stations according to blanket categories that appeared to fit their families’ special needs, said a spokesman for Navy Personnel Command.
The Navy announced the changes last month and plans to implement them gradually, in line with other service branches, by October, the end of fiscal 2025, according to a Navy press release Dec. 9.
The service amended its EFMP program to comply with the policy required by the Department of Defense, personnel command spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Stuart Phillips said by email Wednesday.
“This change results in a tailored assignment process that addresses the specific needs of the service member and their exceptional family member instead of relying on blanket categories to drive the assignment process,” Phillips told Stars and Stripes.
The mandatory program assists sailors by ensuring they are assigned to areas where they can find medical, dental and mental health care; developmental or educational assistance; and adaptive equipment, services and technology for family members with special needs, according to the Navy website.
The category system lumped sailors with similar needs into groups. The new process employs an “interactive, detailed process” between a sailor and a case manager that lifts limitations and opens assignments that may have been previously denied, Phillips said.
The case managers are working for a central command, he wrote.
“Consolidating these functions under the same roof enables a better identification and enrollment process, provides individualized assignment case management, and ensures the healthcare and educational services for our Navy EFMP families are considered before they [permanently change their stations],” Phillips said.
An advocate with the National Military Family Association believes the change is a better option for sailors and their families than the previous tier system.
“I think that any time that you’re dealing with a family or a family member as an individual, rather than as part of a tier, I think that’s preferable,” Eileen Huck, the association’s government relations director, said by phone Wednesday.
“So, I think if the end result of this is that detailers and EFMP personnel look more closely at every family situation and their unique needs and try to place them accordingly, I think that’s the outcome that we would want to see,” she said.
The new process will allow more transparency to enlisted sailors and remove perceived barriers by allowing them to view available billets and apply for orders through MyNavy Assignment based on their career needs and EFMP considerations, Phillips said.
“Sailors in the EFM program are also now more empowered as they can request second reviews of assignments through [Navy Personnel Command] EFMP office if they believe an assignment may be medically or educationally inappropriate,” he said.
Huck said it’s important for families to understand the new system and how it’s intended to work.
“And it’s also important for the Navy to hear from families about what’s working, what’s not working, and so they can try to better meet the needs of families,” she said.
