Cates initiates a screening process with the gaining agency to ensure the family's needs can be met. The screening is based on the input the soldier provides when registering the family member. The enrollment information needs to be updated regularly and that is the soldier's responsibility. If I've enrolled my child in EFMP, I call my personnel people and say 'before you decide you're going to help me, you need to ask me if that's really help. But the decision whether or not to take an overseas assignment rests with the soldier and his family.
Every family has different priorities and different coping skills.
Baldini addressed the issue of assignments important to a soldier's career. The EFMP program is there to assist, not to hinder the soldier's professional development or career enhancement. Enrollment in EFMP is not limited to active duty. U.S. Army Reserve soldiers in the USAR Active Guard Reserve and other USAR soldiers on active duty for more than 30 days must enroll as do Army National Guard personnel serving under the authority of title 10, United States Code. You cut yourself out of a lot of services if you don't.