Serving Military Families in the 21st Century

Karen R. Blaisure, a licensed marriage and family therapist and a certified family life educator, is a professor of family studies in the department of Family and Consumer Sciences at Western Michigan University. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Family and Child Development at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1992. Her research focuses on U.S. and international educational and policy initiatives for families experiencing separation and divorce. She teaches Family Life and the Military for students in the helping professions. From 1986 to 1989 she worked as a program specialist and an education services supervisor and in 1992 as a special project consultant at the Navy Family Services Center in Norfolk, Virginia. In these roles she facilitated programs on deployment, reunion, children, and parenting. She has presented on military families to many professional groups and has written about the Navy’s Return and Reunion program. Tara Saathoff-Wells is a faculty member in the Department of Child, Family and Community Sciences at the University of Central Florida. She received her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Alabama in 2000. From 1989 through 1994, she worked in Kenya and Mozambique with both indigenous and U.S. expatriate populations. As a doctoral student, she completed an internship with the U.S. Department of State in the Family Liaison Office, the primary family and child resource and support office for U.S. diplomatic families. Dr. Saathoff-Wells is a former faculty member in Human Development and Family Studies at Central Michigan University where she taught a course on Military Family Life and served as Director of the Women’s Studies Program. In 2010 Dr. Blaisure and Dr. Saathoff-Wells team-taught their respective courses coordinating lectures, videos, guest speakers, class discussions and field trips. The classes were linked by compressed video interactive technology (CVIT). Colonel Angela Pereira U.S. Army, Retired, is a consultant and educator on psychological health and military life issues, having completed a distinguished career in the military. She is a member of the External Advisory Council of the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University. She previously served as the U.S. Army’s regional mental health consultant and director of the U.S. Army Europe Regional Medical Command’s Solider and Family Support Services in Heidelberg, Germany; as a member of the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health; as director of the Combat Stress Control/Mental Health Clinic at Abu Ghraib, Iraq; as director of education and training on health and wellness at the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine; and as the division social worker for the Third Armored Division during Operations Desert Shield/Storm. Board-certified in clinical social work, she earned her Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of South Carolina. Pereira’s many honors include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal and the Order of Military Medical Merit. Shelley M. MacDermid Wadsworth is a professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Purdue University, where she also directs the Military Family Research Institute and the Center for Families, and serves as Associate Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University in 1990. Her research focuses on relationships between job conditions and family life, with special focus on military families and organizational policies, programs and practices. A fellow of the National Council on Family Relations and a recipient of the Work Life Legacy Award from the Families and Work Institute, Dr. MacDermid Wadsworth served as the civilian co-chair of the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health, and currently serves on the Psychological Health External Advisory Committee of the Defense Health Board and the Returning Veterans Committee of the Institute of Medicine. Amy Laura Dombro develops resources to assist teachers, family support professionals and community leaders in making positive change for children and families. She received her MS in Infant and Family Development from the Bank Street College of Education in 1978. Former head of the Bank Street Infant and Family Center, Amy works with and for national organizations including the Military Family Research Institute, ZERO TO THREE, The What to Expect Foundation and Families and Work Institute to translate information so that it is engaging and easy to use. In addition, she often documents stories of successes, challenges and lessons learned so that readers can benefit from the experiences of others. Her recent publications include: Powerful Interactions: How to Connect with Children to Extend Their Learning, and Honoring Our Babies and Toddlers: Supporting Young Children Affected by a Military Parent’s Deployment, Injury or Death.

R. Milardo, Foreword. 1. An Introduction to Military Culture and Military Families. 2. An Overview of Military Personnel and Their Families. 3. Defining Features of Military Family Life. 4. Children and Youth in Military Families. 5. Ways of Thinking about Family Stress and Resilience. 6. Individual and Family Development in the Military. 7. The Effects of War on Service Members. 8. The Effects of War on Families. 9. Military Support for Military Families: Military Policies and Programs. 10. Civilian Supports for Military Families. 11. Supporting Military Families: Recent and New Programs. 12. Supporting Military Families; Applying Theory and Research to Practice. 13. Serving Military Families.