Support for Parents
We would encourage parents to become connected with your son or daughter’s command. It will be important for you to be included in the command’s communication network. This can be done by having your name and contact information passed on to the person assigned to the command’s family support/readiness group or the military department responsible for taking care of the command’s families in their absence. Your son or daughter can give the command their permission to have you included in information made available to families during deployment. If your son or daughter is already deployed, you can contact the command representative and ask to be included in their communication link. By being on the command’s family contact list, it should get you on a group mailing list or email list for updates about the command, planned activities for families, and about the deployment.
It’s important to remember that a command’s family support groups are staffed by volunteers. The group’s ability to maintain contact with extended family members or significant others varies from command to command depending on the number of volunteers and the length of deployment. Parents can often volunteer. If you have the opportunity, we encourage you to participate in these groups. Even if you don’t live in the same area, there are many things you can do to help.
There are other opportunities to get involved. Your local community may offer support through social service agencies, churches, and veteran’s organizations. Websites like the Deployment Health Family Readiness Library, Military Homefront, and USA4militaryfamilies offer state support programs for military families that can be great resources for parents. Some military installations are offering welcome home (reintegration) classes for parents to provide information on what to expect when their son or daughter returns home from deployment.
If this is not an option for you, there are some helpful books dealing with combat stress and reintegration. These books are:
Down Range to Iraq and Back
by Bridget C. Cantrell, Ph.D. and Chuck Dean
Courage After Fire
by Keith Armstrong, L.C.S.W./Susanne Best, Ph.D / Paula Domenici, Ph.D.
“COMING HOME”: A Guide for Parents, Extended Family Members or Friends of Service Members Returning from Mobilization / Deployment
available at your local Red Cross chapter.
When Your Son or Daughter is Deployed
Your Soldier, Your Army by Vicki Cody
Our Sons, Our Daughters A National Guard Parent’s Guidebook to Deployment by Paula Sumrall
We welcome your input. We would appreciate hearing about your experiences and the resources you used to navigate your son or daughter’s deployment. Please email us at Info@MilitaryFamily.org with your suggestions.
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