We have the same experience as Donna. I have met with our coordinator, but
their job, in my experience, is to get families into the EFM program. We
are also rated a level 5 (which means eligible for homesteading) but there
are no real benefits to this unless you don't want to go overseas.
Sometimes EFM will not assign your spouse to a location that does not have
the particular services needed for your child. In other situations, your
spouse will deploy whether or not the family goes along -- it depends on the
needs of the Navy. The intention is good, and in my opinion, it doesn't
hurt to sign up. However, the benefits appear to be minimal. Maybe it will
be different at our next duty station in San Diego (we are now in Maryland).
There is a nice handbook on EFM you can get from your coordinator although
it hasn't been updated in awhile.

I have met with our EFM coordinator twice and I requested that Navy family
services hold some seminars on moving with an IEP, information about DOD
schools, moving Tricare services from one region to another and an overview
of EFM services. Maybe this information is on the STOMP website, but I
haven't read all the resources yet. I learn better through direct
instruction and was hoping to find different resources. They FSC was open
to seminars but I haven't seen results yet.

Laura S.
Patuxent River Maryland



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