Military and Veteran Families and Children: Policies and Programs for Health Maintenance

This Social Policy Report summarizes what is currently known about our nation’s military children and families and presents ideas and proposals pertinent to the formulation of new programs and the policies that would create and sustain these initiatives. We emphasize the need for future rigorous developmental research about military children and families that could more definitively inform future programs and policies. These policies and programs should build on the resilience of military children and families in order to best maintain and enhance their health and positive development. The goal of our recommendations is to have better policy and program preparedness so that the next time the U.S. is engaged in a conflict, we can more quickly and efficiently provide the specific support and treatment that military families and children need and merit.