How to accomodate children when you have dual spouses in the service? My wife is thinking of joining the Air Force...

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 08 May 2015 12:03:17 -0400

I am already in the Army. I already kinda understand the family care plan, Here is my misunderstanding; If I am stationed over seas and I go to the feild every other month and deployable. When my wife goes into boot camp and Mos training. My kids are under 2 years old and I don't have family to watch them here. What would I need to do? We do not have anyone to send them; family wise. I just need some insight if this occurs. My unit is very big on working late, field rotations for months at a time. This is breaking down everything so that I do not have the someone to tell me, send them back to the states to their grandma or something. thank you in advance

Response by MSgt Jeff S. made May 8 at 2015 12:28 PM

MSgt Jeff S. — Fri, 08 May 2015 12:28:13 -0400

Sgt (P) Jacob Bump - I have no experience with the Army, so I won't speculate on that piece of it. However, I did a tour as an Air Force Recruiter and I would ask if your wife has discussed this with her recruiter. The immediate issue that concerns me is that she may fall into a grey area with regard to "single parent" status. While "technically" your marriage keeps her out of that, in spirit she fits the classification. It may have changed since I was doing it, but the Air Force avoided bringing in people who fit that category due to the hardship it places on the kids, the applicant and the service in general.
As with many policies, there are ways around it, but it would be centered on having a rock-solid family care plan, and it doesn't sound like you guys have figured that out yet.
Good Luck Brother!

Response by MSgt Rob Weston made May 8 at 2015 12:36 PM

MSgt Rob Weston — Fri, 08 May 2015 12:36:04 -0400

My wife was still active army when we got married and transitioned to the reserves, I was active AF at the time. If this is something you both want then you both should be able to get a good family care plan going that states both short and long term care. Since we used the AF form, her unit accepted it. But you also need to consider not only your wife's basic training, but the length of her technical training and other subsequent training requirements which some can extend beyond a year.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made May 8 at 2015 12:56 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 08 May 2015 12:56:19 -0400

My wife and I are dual service, and I always hated dealing with the Family Care Plans. Plus, the plans usually have to be done separately for *each* service member, even though almost all the data is the same.

What we did was simply gather everything potentially useful in one place, and build a docket of everything that a person might need to understand how we wanted the kids cared for if we weren't around to be asked. We contacted both families (my parents and my wife's) and managed to get both to agree to watch children. We then got the guardianship (I believe it was actually a special power of attorney) papers (both the assignment by EACH of us and the separate acceptance by EACH of them) notarized, x2, since we did one for my family and one for hers. The next thing we did was contact 2 close friends to be temporary guardians, who are authorized to transport the children to their more permanent location as needed. The documentation includes reimbursement for the costs they incur in transporting the kids. Finally, we added a copy of our wills, our insurance documentation, important documents such as birth certificate copies, etc. and had them put together into packets with the relevant documents for each party (sometimes copies, sometimes originals, depending). Lastly, we added a memo dual-signed by us designating exactly who was our primary and backup of the temporary transportation guardians and of the families for longer care, and what to do in case there was confusion and we couldn't be reached. It was only after all this that we took the assembled packets to our commanders along with the FCP checklist to show that everything was thoroughly completed, and then as soon as it was signed off, the CDRs got to keep their on-file copy and the rest of the packets were mailed out to the other parties (we kept one packet with mostly original documents).

This seems like a shit-ton of work, and it is, but when we both got assignments (which has happened a few times) there was a very thorough fall-back plan for us. We were able to pass off kids to temporaries within literally hours, and they were at their permanent care locations within a day or two. Everything with a FCP lives or dies on how well you plan for the contingencies and edge-case scenarios. The checklists only take you so far, so initiative has to carry you the rest.

This is a bit longer and more rambing than I'd hoped, but hopefully you can use some of this. I understand your situation is unique, but the best start is to just pull out a copy of the FCP forms and start going down the checklist now to see what you need, then just think about where things could go wrong.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made May 8 at 2015 12:59 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Fri, 08 May 2015 12:59:46 -0400

http://armypubs.army.mil/eforms/pdf/A5304.PDF that is the family care checklist. You owe me a coke.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made May 8 at 2015 1:10 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 08 May 2015 13:10:03 -0400

I'm reserve and husband is active duty, a family care plan can be frustrating especially when stationed overseas. The FCP is a plan of action to take care of your children when you and your spouse are unavailable. You are required to have someone that could come get your child within an hour notice (in the event of an emergency, short term care) and another guardian to assume responsibility in the event long term care is required.
You will have to update/make changes at every new duty station (ages, address, and short term care giver).
It can be a quite a bit of paperwork and most of it needs to be notarized.

Maj R J spelled it out for you - adding a little more than the Army requires, but good info.

http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/powerpoint/Miscelaneous_Presentations/family-care-plan-2.shtml has a great power point with all the required forms listed.

Do consider how often you and your spouse will be gone throughout the year: schools, field exercises, and deployments. Not to mention because of different branches the commute to work may be difficult. I am aware of at least 3 joint bases, but you are not guaranteed and assignment at one of those.

Family Care Plan (ArmyStudyGuide.com)

ArmyStudyGuide.com provide extensive information about Family Care Plan (ArmyStudyGuide.com)