European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 3, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A photo the defense department created the military family resource Center in 1985 to standardize and coordinate child advocacy programs aiming to curb inconsistencies that have plagued past efforts by the military. By Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau military reinforces efforts to help families social workers and medical personnel in the military used that congressional legislation As a toehold to do something about child abuse in military families on a service wide basis Stein said. Separate child advocacy programs continued until 1979, when a general accounting office report panned the programs. The most glaring shortcoming was a Lack of direction in program policy the Gao report said. Like those they serve to protect child Protection programs in the military services have sometimes been the victims of neglect the report said. The reasons for this Are Complex but it May be speculated that although no one in the higher echelons of the defense establishment is opposed to Good child Protection its importance in maintaining a National defense posture has not been viewed As critical. C Hild advocacy programs have existed in . Military services More than 10years, but it was t until 1985 that the defense department created the military family resource Center to standardize and coordinate them. The changes won t come easy or quickly. Officials and studies disclose that the lengthy Lack of oversight created inconsistencies among service programs that will continue at least a few More years. The inconsistencies have plagued service approaches to child abuse since rudimentary programs were established at the base level in the late 1960s. It s fair to say the services had programs but they were passive rather than aggressive said Bob Stein director of the family resource Center. They were programs where if child abuse hit you in the forehead on a particular base you did something about it. But the programs weren t really actively pursuing the  after. Congress passed the child abuse prevention and treatment act in 1974, the services began establishing formal programs. By Early 1976, programs were underway in each of the three services. Clearly these programs have not received the attention Given to drug abuse alcoholism and equal Opportunity All of which have More direct Impact upon Active duty troops and military  the Gao said that without Pentagon guidance child advocacy programs varied on key issues such As the appropriate placement of programs within each Branch of the service age differences in definitions of a child organization and management of programs at the installation level and the reporting systems used to manage cases which made it impossible to gather meaningful statistics. Also the services programs receive no direct funding and at most installations suffer from a Lack of adequate staff the Gao said. The Gao report was not the first criticism levelled at the programs. In 1973, the military Section of the american Academy of paediatrics had advised the defense department to establish a program to improve the recognition management and prevention of child maltreatment in the  in 1974, following a conference on child abuse the american medical association issued a similar statement. Doctors called for More emphasis on the problem from defense department brass. And in 1978, a year before the Gao report the defense department s Tri service child advocacy working group the Distant forerunner of the resource Center envisioned a National resource Center for child abuse in the military. But the Gao report became the catalyst for change. One result of the report was the resource Center which began in fiscal 1981 As a demonstration project Stein said. The Center was a grantee of the department of health and human services under the auspices of the armed forces Myca Stein said it acted in a lot of cases More As a contractor for the services to do various kinds of projects that the services did t have the resources to  in 1981, the defense department created the family advocacy program and the family advocacy committee and the first policy on child and spouse abuse to emerge from the Pentagon. The directive outlined some Basic policies officially mandating family advocacy programs Stein said. Directives from Dod Are important in that they usually mean that the Secretary of defense is now recognizing the subject of the directive As a  in late 1984, the resource Center ceased As a demonstration project and became a full fledged defense department Agency under the assistant Secretary of defense for health affairs. We acquired the same oversight responsibility As any other Secretary of defense staff office so there was a difference Between this Center As a Headquarters staff element and a Center that was a grantee dependent upon others for Money Stein said. Since its inception the Center has made efforts to improve and streamline child advocacy programs of the services with such initiatives As the introduction oct. 1 of a standardized reporting form. Still needing to be done Stein said Are building Trust Between the resource Center and the services. There s always a certain amount of suspicion on the part of the services when they Deal with an office of the Secretary of defense Stein said. Producing a More definitive directive. We re working on that right now Stein said. It won t be so definitive that it ties the services hands but there will be some things in there that the services will have to  initiating a widespread education program As suggested by the Gao. Education is needed so people know exactly what it is we re talking about and that there Are things they can do about it Stein said. Expanding child advocacy staffs. The services still have Many part time family advocacy representatives Stein said. It s hard to do a Good aggressive Job if you re doing it part  focusing resources and educating commanders at the base level. I have the feeling that we re missing a lot of these cases because the commander has too Many choices Stein said. A commander May have a Guy who got drunk and beat up his kids. Throw a few variables in there and the commander does t know whether to Send the family to the chaplain the alcohol treatment Center the family advocacy Center or the military police. Sometimes if you have too Many choices you Don t make any Choice. We have to see where we can coordinate better in that  Page 16 the stars and stripes monday March 3,1986