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 Guard kids are different, but programs still available to them By Air Force Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke
                National Guard Bureau
 ARLINGTON, Va. - Guard kids differ from active duty kids in only one way: access. Access to support programs and access to peers who understand what they are going through. Everything else is the same: missing their parents terribly when they deploy, counting the days until they come home and trying to keep their promise to "stay strong." Caylee Deakin, who recently organized the "Sisterhood of the Travelling BDUs" conference in California, was 13 when her father deployed with the Army National Guard. "I had no friends that had anybody in the military. I didn't have a counselor that understood. I had my family, but no one my age," she said. "Of course, I had my best friends, but they didn't know how to talk to me about it." Moranda Hearn, another "Sisterhood" conference organizer, said she felt isolated when her father, Lt. Col. Rick Hearn, deployed with the Air National Guard in 2007. "My self-esteem dropped," she said "I didn't feel as confident anymore, which was really rare for me ... and I didn't really reach out. I think that was an experience that many of us go through." Guard officials are reaching out to children of all ages with a variety of programs. Below summarizes the programs and activities provided to Guard children by several military services and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The U.S. Army **Deployment Support Services - National Guard and Army Reserve Component** Child Care deployment support is provided to Army National Guard and Army Reserve through two main initiatives: Operation: Military Child Care, and Operation: Military Kids. These two programs provide community outreach services and child care and youth programs at reduced rates to the Army's Guard and Reserve servicemembers. **Army Sponsored Child Care & Youth Programs - Reserve Component** Offers Child Care and Youth Outreach Services for geographically dispersed families where they live - often beyond reasonable commuting distance of military bases. Offers child care at reduced rates where families reside through Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood (MCCYN) initiative and connects youth with resources and support systems where they reside. Programs are available in 50 states. Supplements, not replaces, Army operated on-post child and youth programs. **Respite Child Care** The Respite Child Care program, offered to Army Reserve Soldiers and their families through their local YMCA, also provides health and wellness programs. The Respite Child Care program provides up to 16 hours of child care for families of deployed Guard and Reserve personnel. The U.S. Air Force **Air Force Home Community Care** This expanded child care initiative, offered at 22 stateside locations, provides free, in-home quality child care services to Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve members during their scheduled drill weekends. **Extended Duty Child Care** Free child care during mandatory deployment meetings, medical appointments and meetings with Airman & family readiness center personnel as well as unlimited free hourly care for medical appointments for wounded warriors. The program provides 16,000 hours of extended child care each month in family child care homes at no cost to military members. It also provides quality care when parental workloads increase due to longer duty hours and nontraditional hours, such as weekends and evenings. Child care is provided for spouses of deployed or temporary duty members and is available for active duty, National Guard and Reserve members. **Air Force Mission Youth Outreach** Air Force Mission Youth Outreach is a partnership between Air Force Services and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America that provides support to inactive duty and reserve component families who do not live near a military installation. It includes those who move to office base locations away from installations during the deployment of the parent(s). Office POC: Air Force Services **Air Force Camps** Air Force Space Camp: Hosted by the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, Ala. Space Academy and Advanced Space Academy are available for youth, ages 12-18, to participate in the AF Space Camp Program.
    Destination Imagination Camps: More than 50 Air Force bases will receive a DI youth camp that includes a family and staff development component. DI specializes in providing the highest-quality educational events, activities, competitions, and customized programming with the primary focus of teaching creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. The National Guard **National Guard Child and Youth Program** Supports the mission of improving family readiness by ensuring excellence in youth services. It is the objective of the Child and Youth Program to meet the social, emotional and academic needs of National Guard children and youth in accordance with statutory requirements, DoD policy, and Army and Air Force baseline standards. **STARBASE** STARBASE is a premier educational program, sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. STARBASE students participate in challenging "hands-on, mind-on" activities in aviation, science, technology, engineering, math, and space exploration. They interact with military personnel to explore careers and make connections with the "real world." Students also learn teamwork, goal setting, and the importance of staying off drugs. The program provides students with 20-25 hours of stimulating experiences at National Guard, Navy, Marine, Air Force Reserve and Air Force bases across the nation. It partners with the local school systems and communities. **Our Military Kids** Provides tangible support to children of deployed National Guard and Reserve personnel as well as to children of severely injured servicemembers through grants for enrichment activities and tutoring. Such activities help these children cope with the stress of having a parent in a war zone or recovering from injury at home. Our Military Kids grants are made to honor the sacrifices that military families make and to ensure that their children have access to sports, fine arts, or academic tutoring programs. **Communities In Schools (CIS)** Champions the connection of needed community resources with schools to help young people successfully learn, stay in school and prepare for life. By bringing caring adults into the schools to address children's unmet needs, CIS provides the link between educators and the community. **The National Guard Youth Symposium** State/Territory Youth Coordinators and selected State/Territory Youth Representatives attend this annual event. The purpose of the Youth Symposium is to address the challenges of being a child/youth that has a family member in the National Guard; present techniques in dealing with those challenges and to capitalize on the benefits of being a child/youth that has a family member in the National Guard. **Guard Teen Panels** Established at the national and state level to educate and empower National Guard youth locally, regionally, and nationally to become ambassadors of patriotism, diversity, moral character, intellectual achievement, and service to others. **State Youth Camps** Many states conduct either weekend or week-long camps to educate and expose the youth on what their servicemember goes through while attending various military trainings. Each state camp is specifically tailored to meet the needs of their child and youth population. **Child Care Subsidies** The military services have made child-care funding available for members of the armed forces on Title 10 orders in support of the Global War on Terrorism. This supplement is paid directly to state-endorsed service providers and continues through the length of the deployment. The amount of the supplement received is based on family income, the number of children receiving care, and the type of care needed. Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy **Child Development Programs** Child Development Centers provide child care for children up to 12 years of age. Family Child Care Programs offer in-home care by certified providers living in government-owned or leased housing. School-Age Care Programs provide child care for children up to 12 years of age before and after school, during holidays, and over summer vacation. Resource and Referral Programs connect families to child-care programs at most military installations and in local communities. Respite Care provides a temporary break to parents or caregivers responsible for children up to 12 years of age. Finally, Operation Military Child Care "buys down" the cost of child care for reserve component families and geographically dispersed servicemembers and military families while a servicemember is deployed. **Mission Youth Outreach** This is a services-sponsored youth outreach program partnering with Boys & Girls Clubs of America. The program allows dispersed active, Guard, and Reserve youth to attend a local Boys & Girls Club chapter at no cost to the family. Program highlights include: character and education, education and career, health and life skills, arts, and sports fitness and recreation. **Operation Military Kids** This is a collaborative support effort through National 4-H Headquarters with America's communities to support military children impacted by deployment and military members geographically dispersed from military installations. Primary focus is on the National Guard and Reserve. **Outreach Counseling: Military Family Life Consultants (MFLCs)** Short-term situational, problem-solving counseling services by Military Family Life Consultants (MFLCs) help military members and their families cope with the normal reactions to stressful, adverse situations created by deployments, reintegration and the military lifestyle in general. MFLC's provide flexible service delivery to meet the ongoing and emerging needs of the total force by providing installation-based rotational assignments of 30, 45, 60 or 90 days, as well as on-demand counseling support for the National Guard and Reserve and their families. **Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) Training** DoD-sponsored MCEC training provides research-based tools, practical professional development trainings, and partnership support on behalf of military children. MCEC training opportunities directly address the challenges faced by the military child, increase awareness of and response to these challenges in the military and supporting communities, and initiate quality, sustainable programs to meet these challenges. MCEC Programs serve active and reserve component members and their families. Supporting Children of the Guard & Reserves Institute GRI is a professional development program for educators and professionals that provides resources and information on ways that communities can support children and families of the activated National Guard and Reserve. The purpose of the GRI is to help participants understand the unique challenges faced by children of members of the National Guard and Reserve, who may be geographically separated due to mobilization, deployment, and transition of family members. GRI uses a train-the-trainer model to enable participants to train others in their community.
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