Experts hold summit on military youth issues

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Experts hold summit on military youth issues
By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Oct 24, 2007 13:59:53 EDT

Research on the effects of multiple wartime deployments on military children and how to help them is very limited, but a group of experts who serve military children in a variety of ways are discussing the idea of forming a loose coalition to pool information and resources and strengthen efforts for children.

At a “Military Children in Time of War” youth initiatives summit Oct. 23 in Washington sponsored by the National Military Family Association, about 50 representatives from nonprofit organizations, the Defense Department, the military services and university research programs discussed the impact of the current war on kids and the research that is needed to address that issue.

Some military pediatricians have developed a special-interest group to discuss what research should be done in the area of military children, and the most critical areas to focus on, said Army Col. (Dr.) Elisabeth Stafford, program director for the military adolescent medicine fellowship and faculty member of the pediatric residency within the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium.

“We know what we’re seeing on the front lines,” Stafford said, noting that pediatricians are seeing instances of lags in growth and development, failure to thrive, and other health-related issues in some military children. The pediatricians have discussed the idea of a long-term study.

Mary Keller, executive director of the Military Child Education Coalition, said a research consortia focused on military children would allow groups to share data and lessons learned and translate them into ways that each group could use to help children. This could prevent groups from using resources to duplicate something that might already be available, she said.

Defense and service officials who oversee policy and programs for children and youth said families are often confused about different programs available to them and what they offer, because there are so many. Families want to go to one place to find consolidated information, surveys have shown. Taxpayer dollars are being used for different Web sites that provide the same information, and that money could be used for something else, said M.A. Lucas, director of child and youth programs for the Army.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/10/military_youth_071024w/