Deployment, Military Families,

and Children:
Implications for Social Work
Practice
SSS 804: Social Work With Children
National Catholic School of Social
Service
Jane Slomski
November 2009
 Military Families of Today
• All-volunteer military
• No longer only single men
• Most do not choose long-term service
• 60% of U.S. service members have
children under age 5
• Military policies are getting better but still
do not fully reflect the changing needs of
its families.
 Families Cont.
• Families expected to conform to demands
of military lifestyle
• Demands have recently been met with
increasing intolerance and dissatisfaction
by service members and their families
• Recently recognized need for widespread
reevaluation of military policies and
procedures as they relate to military
families
 Unique Stressors in Military
Families
• Deployment
– Long term separations, sometimes with limited
contact with soldiers/families
– War zones: increased risk of injury or death
• Reorganization
– Family roles shift to compensate for absence of
soldier
– When soldier returns, must reintegrate into family
• Relocation
– Frequent moves disrupt networks of social support
– Children have difficulty frequently changing schools
and making new friends
 Military Children
• Literature suggests that children with
deployed parents:
– Are aware of the dangers of deployment
– Show a greater ability to adapt than civilian
cohorts
– Are extremely resilient
– Feel a sense of sacrifice and patriotism
Children’s Mental Health During
Deployment
• Strongly linked to coping skills and mental
health of at-home parent
• If parent exhibits symptoms of distress,
depression, or anxiety, children are likely
to present with clinically significant
symptoms as well
• Among surveyed military spouses, most
common concern is fear for solider safety
 Satisfaction With Army Life
• In study of factors associated with family’s satisfaction
with army life, most important factor was impact of
separations
• Impact of separation: Effect that soldier’s absence has
on family life cycle
• Absence during important life events: Graduation,
marriages, holidays…
• Impact of separation negatively correlated with spouse’s
– physical well-being
– psychological well-being
– marital satisfaction
– Army life satisfaction
 Attachment and Separation
• Attachment Theory:
– Biological attachment system activated at
birth: newborns seek safety, nourishment,
comfort, connection.
– Attachment system is active throughout life;
humans maintain psychological equilibrium
through emotional and physical connections
with others
– Separation from attachment figures activates
the attachment system and causes
psychological distress, anxiety, depression
 Attachment Figures
• In childhood
– Adult the child depends on to meet basic needs including the
need for physical comfort and emotional closeness (usually
parents, not always)
• In adulthood
– Moves away from parents; transfers to significant others in life
• In romantic relationships
– Attachment style developed in childhood becomes the way we
relate to others as adults

• Primary attachment figure in childhood is usually mother and/or

father; focus on quality (not quantity of time) in relationship
 Attachment Styles
• Secure
– Child: Feels comfortable with parent; turns
to them in times of distress; reacts
negatively to separation but is able to
regain equilibrium in a safe environment
– Parent: Acts as a “secure base” from
which the child can venture forth to
explore the world. Assures child of
availability for soothing and comfort if
needed; allows developmentally
appropriate autonomy
 Attachment Styles
• Avoidant
– Child: Uncomfortable getting close to
attachment figures; do not trust easily; show
little distress when separated; uninterested
when reunited
– Parent: Emotionally rigid; become angry or
reject child’s attempts at closeness;
 Attachment Styles
• Anxious
– Child: Extremely distressed when separated
from attachment figures but conflicted or
ambivalent upon return
– Parent: Does not give consistent responses to
child’s bid for closeness; sometimes angry
and rejecting, sometimes accepting
 Attachment Styles
• Disorganized
– Child: Quickly switch from extreme distress to
ambivalence in response to separation; Might
display both proximity seeking behaviors
(reaching, crawling) and avoidant behaviors
(turned back, crying, ignoring)

– Parent: unpredictable behavior; “spaced out,”

disorganized; may look frightened or confused
when child approaches them*
*May be the result of childhood trauma
 Separation & Effects on
Children
• Regardless of attachment style, children
experience physical and psychological
distress when separated from attachment
figures for prolonged periods
• Military children may experience not only
prolonged separation from primary
attachment figures, but also separation
from important friends and relatives due to
frequent relocations
 General Reactions to
Separation
• Internalizing behaviors
– Fear, anxiety, insomnia, nightmares, clinging
to available attachment figure, fear that the
parent who is home will also leave
– Depression (clinical and sub-clinical)
• Externalizing behaviors
– Crying, aggression, non-compliance (out of
the ordinary)
• Problems in school
• Loss of interest in activities/friends
 Reactions to Separation by
Developmental Level
• Infant (birth -1)
– Reactive to emotions of caregiver
– Sense depression, anxiety
– Parents report changes in eating and sleeping
and increased fussiness, difficult to soothe
• Toddler (2 – 3)
– Clinginess
– Withdrawal
– Depression
– Difficulty sleeping
 Reactions to Separation by
Developmental Level
• Pre-school (3 – 5)
– Regression to earlier behaviors
• Bed wetting, fussing, crying for attention,
aggression
– Lack understanding of cause and effect and
may believe that they caused the parent to go
away. May experience guilt.
• Early Elementary (6 – 8)
– Basic understanding of cause and effect
– Begin to understand danger and war
– May experience intense grief
 Reactions to Separation by
Developmental Level
• Late Elementary (9 – 12)
– Experience range of emotions very quickly
– Anger, feel abandoned by deployed parent
– Boys may feel increased sense of
responsibility for family if father is deployed
– Manifest as increased aggression, anti-social
behavior, over-involvement in extra-curricular
activities to hide emotions
 Reactions to Separation by
Developmental Level
• Adolescence (12+)
– Understand war and conflict
– Feels sadness but understands the concept of
deployment and time-limited deployment
which may help with coping.
– Likely to immerse self in extra-curricular
activities and friendships
– Is able to discuss feelings and thoughts about
deployment
– Feel increased sense of responsibility,
especially with younger siblings
 Effects of Deployment on
Attachment Bonds
• Regardless of age of child, attachment
bonds are stressed by prolonged
separation/deployment
• Children < 1 year will not recognize the
parent when he/she returns from
deployment; attachment bonds must be
reformed
• If soldier sustained injuries, children may
be initially fearful and distant
 Effects of Deployment on
Attachment Bonds
• Children may initially react with fear and
uncertainty under any circumstances
• Amount of contact with soldier during
deployment often determines reactions
• Parents who were able to keep in contact
regularly during deployment report easier
transitions back into family life
• Parents who were not able to keep in contact
often have difficulty reestablishing bonds
• Anxious/avoidant attachment patterns may form
 Social Work Interventions
• Children with deployed parents often present
with clinically significant symptoms of:
– Anxiety, depression, anti-social behavior,
school failure, somatic symptoms…
• Consequence of hyper-activation of the
biological attachment system
• Interventions focus on reassurances of safety,
maintaining bonds with deployed parents,
maintaining bonds with home-parent, and repair
of attachment bonds when soldier returns home.
 Social Work Interventions
• Very young children (1 – 5)
– Focus on mental health and emotional
regulation of caregiver
– Play therapy
• Clinician/parents should be aware of themes in
play:
– War
– Violence
– Anxiety
– Separation
– Control
– Death
 Social Work Interventions
Older children
– Direct conversations about thoughts and
feelings related to deployment
Parents
– Encourage parents to talk regularly with their
children and let them know that talking about
their feelings is accepted and expected
Regular communication
If possible, regular communication with
deployed parent via internet, letters, etc
 Social Work Interventions
• Rituals
– Encourage family to develop predictable
rituals when talking to deployed parent or
doing things at home
• When deployed parent calls, always say goodbye
the same way
• Call around same time of day if possible
• Develop routines around waking up in the morning,
going to bed at night, etc. i.e. songs, reading
stories, greetings and goodbyes.
 Policy Implications
• Military policies around family and child
welfare during deployment, although
evolving, are still not satisfactory.
• Length of deployment is a major concern
• Need increased recognition of multiple
family forms and increasingly diverse
needs:
– Separation and divorce/ fathers living
separately from children, single parent
families, families with two deployed parents…
 Resources
Homeward Deployed
• www.homewarddeployed.org
National Fatherhood Initiative
• www.fatherhood.org
Military One Source
• www.militaryonesource.com
Army MWR
• www.armymwr.com
Navy MWR
• www.mwr.navy.mil
 References
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http://www.naeyc.org/yc/pastissues/2007/january
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