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Family Advocacy Program

The Family Advocacy Program is open. 

The U.S. Army Family Advocacy Program (FAP) helps Soldiers and Families recognize and meet the unique challenges of military lifestyles. Our services include seminars, workshops, counseling, and intervention to help strengthen Army Families, enhance resiliency and relationship skills, and improve quality of life.

We are also dedicated to helping Soldiers and Families with the complex challenges related to domestic abuse, child abuse, and neglect. We focus on prevention, education, prompt reporting, investigation, intervention, and treatment.

If you need help, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at + 1(800)799-7233. You should also contact your installation’s Family Advocacy Program for more information.

Our additional programs within the Family Advocacy Program help with specific needs:

New Parent Support Program (NPSP): Expecting parents and parents with children ages 0-3 have special challenges, and NPSP has tools to meet them. Programs including home visits and parenting classes help caregivers learn to cope with stress, isolation, deployments, reunions, and the everyday demands of parenthood.

 

Transitional Compensation (TC) Program for Abused Dependents: Under a congressionally mandated program, abused dependents of military personnel may be eligible for up to three years of benefits and entitlements, including temporary financial compensation, medical care, and commissary and exchange privileges.

 

Victim Advocacy Program (VAP): Victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse have round-the-clock access to services, including emergency assistance, information, referrals, and ongoing support in accessing medical, behavioral health, legal, and law enforcement services on and off garrisons. Victim Advocates will discuss the option of restricted and unrestricted reports.

 

Seminars and Workshops

Seminars and workshops are available to you, your unit, or your Family support group. Topics may include:

  • Command and Troop Education
  • Community Awareness
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Couples Communication Skills
  • Stress Management
  • Prevention Programs and Services
  • New Parent Support Program
  • Parent Education
  • Domestic Violence Prevention
  • Victim Advocate Program
  • Relationship Support
  • Safety Education
  • Respite Care Program
  • Emergency Placement Care Program
  • Reporting Procedures

 

Contact your installation’s Army Community Service (ACS) Family Advocacy Program for more information.

 

You can also call Military OneSource for more information and referrals.

Classes
  • Free play mornings for parents and children, ages newborn through age 5, on Tuesday and Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. at the Childwise Building, 3467 Vincent Road.
  • Parenting the adolescent
  • Effective parenting for the 5 to 12 years
  • Effective for the young children 1 to 4 years
  • Strengthening your Step Family
  • Anger and Stress Management classes
  • Marriage Enrichment opportunities
  • Resilience classes
Child Abuse and Neglect, Domestic/Intimate Partner Abuse and Sexual Assaults

The Family Advocacy program seeks to prevent spouse/intimate partner and child abuse and neglect and sexual assaults, encourages reporting of all instances of abuse, provides safety assessment for victims of abuse and provides support services and treatment for victims and offenders.

Although FAP coordinates the legal, law enforcement, social services and medical aspects of Family violence on the installation, program responsibilities are primarily divided at the installation between Army Community Service (ACS), Medical Treatment Facility (MTF) at Fox Army Health Center and legal and law enforcement. The FAP multidisciplinary team coordinates services with off post resources such as Crisis Services of North Alabama, the Department of Human Services, and the National Children's Advocacy Center. The FAP at ACS provides education, training and other prevention activities. Victims of domestic/intimate partner abuse and sexual assault can be provided with a Victim Advocate located at Army Community Service to assist her/him through the crisis. The MTF provides therapeutic assessment and treatment. Law enforcement and legal evaluate whether or not a law has been committed.

The Army offers 2 Reporting Options for Victims of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.

  1. Restricted Reporting: Allows the victim, on a confidential basis, to disclose details of the incident/assault only to specified individuals and receives all services. Law enforcement and the soldier's commander are not contacted. Medical treatment, including a forensic examination, counseling and other support services are offered to the victim. This option gives the victim time to receive relevant information and support, in order to make a more informed decision about reporting the domestic abuse or sexual assault to the commander and being willing to participate in a criminal investigation.
  2. Unrestricted Reporting: Allows the victim to receive medical treatment, including a forensic examination, counseling, and support services. The incident is reported to appropriate legal and command authorities. An investigation is completed to ensure the safety and well-being of the victim and other family members who may be at risk from harm. The offender's responsibility in the incident will be investigated.

There are exceptions to the restricted reporting option. Two of the exceptions include: if a child is being abused and/or neglected the local child protection agency must be contacted orif the victim or others in the home are at risk for serious injury or death then a report must be made to local authories.

To discuss options of domestic violence, contact the Domestic Violence Victim Advocate, at  +1(256)876-5397 during duty hours or at +1 (256)508-6613 after duty hours.

Partnerships

The FAP Partnerships include:

  • The Commander's primary source of FAP information and prevention strategies
  • A key member of the Army Community's FAP multi- disciplinary case review and policy team
  • A participant in the civilian community's domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse prevention and intervention efforts.
  • An advocate with Soldiers and Family members for strong service member families
  • A sponsor for training in family violence prevention and intervention

Transitional Compensation (TC) Program:

Congress established the Transitional Compensation (TC) Program for abused dependents of military personnel. The legislation authorizes temporary payments for Families in which the Active Duty Soldier has been court-martialed (with a qualifying sentence) or is being administratively separated for a dependent abuse offense.

The TC Program offers benefits and entitlements for 36 months to eligible Family members. During this period beneficiaries are provided temporary financial compensations and are eligible to receive medical care, including behavioral health services, as TRICARE beneficiaries. Recipients will also have commissary and exchange privileges during this period. The Judge Advocate coordinates this program.

Accreditation:

Monitors and ensures the installation is in compliance with DoD FAP Quality Assurance (QA) standards and meets accreditation standards.