The Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) provides comprehensive support to family members with special needs. EFMP takes an all-inclusive approach to coordinate military and civilian community, educational, medical, housing, and personnel services to help Soldiers and their Families with special needs.
An Exceptional Family Member is a family member with any physical, emotional, developmental, or intellectual disorder that requires special treatment, therapy, education, training, or counseling, and meets the eligibility criteria.
EFMP is a mandatory enrollment program that works with military and civilian agencies to assist families with special needs by providing comprehensive and coordinated community, housing, educational, medical, and personnel services. The ACS Center coordinates, integrates, and manages the installation EFMP for the commander. The regulation that covers EFMP is AR 608-75. Soldiers* with Exceptional Family Members are required to register for EFMP and keep enrollment information current. This way, family needs will be considered during the OCONUS assignments process.
If you’re eligible for EFMP services, family members must be screened and enrolled when they accompany authorized Soldiers on OCONUS assignments. Screenings include medical records review for all Family members and developmental screening for all children aged 72 months and younger.
Objectives of the EFMP Program
- To provide certain reimbursable and non-reimbursable medically related services to children with disabilities (DODI 1342.12) with the same priority as medical care to active duty Soldier.
- To assess, document, and code the special education and medical needs of eligible family members in all locations, and forward these coded needs to military personnel for consideration during assignment process.
- To consider the medical/educational special needs of the EFM during the assignment process. To assign Soldiers to areas where medical and special education needs may be accommodated provided there is a valid personnel requirement for the Soldier’s grade and specialty. Once the EFM is enrolled Military Personnel agencies will consider the EFM needs during the nominative phase of the assignment process. Benefits of enrollment include allowing assignment managers to consider the needs of family members during the assignment process.
*Who must enroll in the program?
(1) Active Army
(2) U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) Soldiers in the Active Guard Reserve (AGR) Program
(3) Army National Guard (ARNG) AGR personnel serving under authority of 10 USC and 32 USC.
Department of the Army civilian employees do not enroll in the program.
You must identify dependent children with special education and medically related service needs and, family members with medical needs each time they process for an assignment to a location outside the United States, where family member travel is authorized at government expense.
Who is Eligible for Enrollment?
The following Soldiers with exceptional family members (children and adults):
- Active Army, U.S. Army Reserve, Active Guard Reserve on active duty exceeding 30 days and Army National Guard personnel serving under authority of title 10, US Code (10 USC).
- Family member (child or adult) with any physical, emotional, developmental, or intellectual special need that requires care above the level of a general practitioner.
- Enrollment must be updated every three years.
Examples of Potentially Eligible Conditions
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Heart Conditions
- Developmental Delays
- Depression
- Asthma
- ADD/ADHD
Resources
- Fort Buchanan EFMP Facebook page
- Military OneSource EFMP/Special Needs
- Education Directory for Children With Special Needs
- Center for Parent Information and Resources
- Operation Autism
- Special Olympics Puerto Rico
- STOMP-Specialized Training of Military Parents
- TRICARE Extended Care Health Option (ECHO)
Need Assistance? Please contact our ACS EFMP Manager or EFMP System Navigator for resource information, advocacy, and support.