Fleet and Family Support Program (FFSP)

Work and Family Life (WFL)

WFL programs directly support mission readiness by preparing service members and their families for the physical, emotional, interpersonal, and logistical demands of the military lifestyle.

Fleet and Family Support Centers (FFSC)

Located on installations worldwide, offer a variety of deployment support programs to assist commands, Sailors, and their families.

The Deployment Support Handbook contains resources and information that will help you prepare for deployment, handle the challenges that arise during deployment, and successfully adjust during the return and reintegration phase at the end of the deployment. Be sure to attend your command-sponsored deployment briefs for more specific information. Use a deployment checklist to keep track of all your preparations for your next deployment.

Individual Deployment Support

In support of Individual Augmentee (IA) spouses and family members, the Fleet and Family Support Centers have developed programs directed at their specific needs, such as the IA Family Handbook, Deployment Readiness Briefs, and Family Connection Newsletter. For more detailed information for Sailors, families, commands, and employers download the Individual Augmentee Family Handbook.

• Deployment Readiness Brief: Learn what happens once you receive orders, discuss challenges unique to an IA deployment and create a plan to ensure success.

• IA Family Connection: Meet to share challenges, joys, and success strategies.

• Homecoming Brief for Friends and Family: Discuss ways to have a happy homecoming for you, your children, and your Sailor.

• Individual Deployment Support Specialist (IDSS): All IA Sailors and their families are assigned an Individual Deployment Support Specialist (IDSS) via their local FFSC. If you have not been contacted by your IDSS, feel free to contact your local FFSC to coordinate contact and support efforts.

The Navy Family Ombudsman Program is a Navy-wide program established to improve mission readiness through improved family readiness. An Ombudsman is an official representative of the Commanding Officer. He/she plays a vital role in establishing and maintaining current and accurate communication between the command and its spouses and family members. A strong command Ombudsman Program, both ashore and afloat, helps ensure that families have the information necessary to meet the challenges of a military lifestyle.

The FFSC provides support and up-to-date information about the Ombudsman Program, Ombudsman training, and maintains the Ombudsman Registry.

The Ombudsman Registry includes a feature to find a command’s Ombudsman. The “Contact Your Ombudsman” feature allows ombudsmen and family members to send an email to the assigned ombudsman for any command listed in the Ombudsman Registry. Ombudsmen also use this

feature to do a warm handoff to the gaining command’s ombudsman for families that are transferring. The feature is located on the log-in page of the Ombudsman Registry at https://ombudsmanregistry.cnic.navy.mil/. (may not be accessible using Google Chrome)

The primary mission of the TAP is to better prepare eligible Service members and their families to transition out of the military service.

The TAP provides a variety of resources and services designed to ensure that Sailors are better prepared to transition from military to civilian life. Resources and services include:

• Translating military skills and experiences into civilian workforce terms
• Financial planning
• Certification and training resources
• Employment workshops
• Federal and civilian job search techniques
• Resume writing
• VA Benefits and eBenefits
• Interviewing skills

Family Employment Readiness Program (FERP) provides no-cost consultations, programs, and services to help families in the job search process. Consultants are available to guide spouses and family members on career planning, job-seeking, and resume writing, as well as to help them prepare for interviews and negotiate offers.

• Beginning Your Search: Career Exploration
• Resumes
• Interviews
• Federal Employment
• Self-Employment
• Social Media Networking

Whether you are part of the general Navy community, the Navy’s emergency management team, or a potential partner in disaster response and recovery, you have a role in planning for emergencies. Please explore the Ready Navy website at ready.navy.mil and the NS FamilyLine’s Are You Ready? Guidelines for Navy Family Emergency Preparedness to find information and tools to help you and your family prepare for

The Navy Family Accountability and Assessment System (NFAAS) brings together all of the emergency preparedness information that Sailors and their family members will need to prepare for and survive an emergency or disaster. It is a standardized method for the Navy to account for, assess, manage, and monitor the recovery process of those affected by a widespread catastrophic event. NFAAS also provides valuable information to all levels of Navy leadership, allowing commanders to make strategic decisions that facilitate a return to stability.

Get up-to-date information on emergency preparedness, local weather, and other local emergency situations with notifications and alerts.

You can access NFAAS via the NFAAS website or the NFAAS App.

The NFAAS App allows users to:

• Report accounting status
• Update contact/location information
• Manage your personal contacts
• Use checklists to help prepare for an emergency
• Use GPS and get turn-by-turn directions to the closest Navy installation
• Learn what to do before, during, and after an emergency or disaster
• Watch videos showing you how to update your NFAAS information

The Navy’s Personal Financial Management program offers information and referral, education and training, as well as no-cost financial counseling to improve the financial health and readiness for Sailors and their families. Providing the basic principles and practices of sound money management, counseling, and referral services using a comprehensive education and training program, the program is here to help you and your family succeed financially.

Two sources for assistance are PFM staff at your local Fleet and Family Support Center (FFSC) and Command Financial Specialists (CFS) at commands. CFS are members of the naval military appointed by the Commanding Officer (CO) to provide financial education and training, counseling, and information referral at the command level. Military and family members can get questions answered or seek assistance with financial readiness issues through either source.

Call for a financial checkup today. Financial literacy for various family and life stages are covered and may include:

• Budgeting and Tracking Expenses
• PCS and Transition Planning
• Deployment Preparation
• Car or House Buying
• Credit Repair or Improvement
• Debt Reduction
• Predatory Lending
• Saving and Investing
• Blended Retirement System (BRS)
• Thrift Savings Plan (TSP)
• Retirement Planning

The Fleet and Family Support Program’s Relocation Assistance Program (RAP) can make your move a lot easier, whether you are settling in or departing from a duty station. The RAP is designed to make the moving process run as effortlessly as possible for Service Members and their families, whether single, married with/without children; or active duty family members and mobilized or active reservists who are relocating. Resources include:​

• Plan Your Move (Before, During, and After)
• Moving with Vehicles and Pets
• Moving Overseas and Intercultural Relations
• Household Goods
• Sponsorship Training
• Homeport Changes
• Community Agencies and Referral Resources

The Navy’s Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) serves military families with special needs, which includes specialized medical (physical, mental health, or emotional) or special educational requirements of a chronic nature (6 months or longer), adaptive equipment assistive technology devices and services and/or wheelchair accessibility. EFMP is a mandatory enrollment program for sponsors with qualifying family members.

EFMP includes identification of the family member’s special needs and enrollment in the program, assignment coordination, and family support. The Program assists Sailors during the assignment process by addressing the special needs of their exceptional family members (EFM) and ensuring they are assigned to geographic areas where they can access necessary resources.

Fleet and Family Support Program is the Information and Referral (I&R) conduit for questions regarding EFM resources in the local community.

EFMP Liaisons located at Fleet and Family Support Centers

• Provide information, referral, and system navigation to special needs families.
• Link families with available military, national and local community resources.
• Provide non-medical case management.
• Develop and maintain Individual Service Plans (ISP).
• Partner with the MTF Coordinators to provide information, education, and marketing.

Military Treatment Facilities (MTF) conduct overseas and suitability screening, and assist with EFMP enrollment.

EFMP Coordinators located at Military Treatment Facilities:

• Oversee the identification and enrollment of eligible service members and their families.
• Provide enrollment forms, offer help in the preparation of the forms, review completed forms for accuracy, and forward the enrollment package to the Central Screening Committee.
• At overseas MTFs, coordinate with the DoDDS and the local Educational and Developmental Intervention Services (EDIS) program.
• Partner with the FFSC EFMP Liaisons to provide EFM Program information, education, and marketing.

Exceptional Family Member Program Respite Care is specifically designed for Navy families who have children identified as Exceptional Family Members (EFM) category IV or V, which are exceptional family members whose medical condition requires assignment near major medical facilities in the continental United States, or whose needs are complex and specialized requiring continuity of care.

FFSC facilitators bring the classroom to you through webinars and podcasts.

• Live Well Resiliency Webinars
• Personal Financial Management
• Deployment Support: Ready and Resilient Webinars
• Transition Assistance Program

See an official list of podcasts and webinars here.

CAP programs are an integral part of the FFSP and support the Navy’s philosophy of “taking care of its own.” The ability to cope and problem-solve is key to the quality of life. Giving clients the skills to cope with life’s challenges, as well as preventing and intervening in domestic abuse, is the right thing to do and exemplifies the Navy’s core values and philosophy. Service members and their families who request FFSC clinical services when needed can greatly enhance their quality of life.

Non-medical clinical counseling is offered for individuals, couples, parents with children, families, and groups for problems of living, such as situational adjustment disorders due to separation,  grief, deployment, relocation, relationship issues, parent-child interactions, and other challenges of military and family life.

The intent is to focus counseling on well-defined problem areas amenable to relatively brief intervention and treatment. Services include assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning and can be in the format of individual, couples, family, or group counseling.

The Family Advocacy Program (FAP) provides clinical assessment, treatment, and services for service members and their families involved in allegations of domestic abuse and child abuse. The goal of FAP is to prevent domestic violence by encouraging people to examine their own behavior and take steps to learn and practice healthier behaviors. FAP provides a variety of interventions and treatment services to meet the needs of individuals and families. It provides counseling, clinical case management, treatment groups, and refers families to military and civilian resources as appropriate.

A variety of courses that teach healthy relationship skills are also available at FFSCs. These include anger management and conflict resolution. These are also free and available to both active duty and spouses.

If you think you may be a victim of domestic abuse, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or visit your installation’s FFSC.

Victim advocacy services assist in safety planning for victims of domestic abuse and connect victims with Navy and community-based resources and services. The FAP Victim Advocate (VA) works closely with domestic abuse victims and FAP Case Managers on issues related to safety and connection to supportive services. Services include Restricted and Unrestricted Reporting options; safety assessment/planning; information to victims on available benefits and services; and referrals to military and civilian victim assistance services or individual/group support programs. The FAP VA serves as a supportive resource, advocates for the expressed interests of victims, and provides additional specialized services, such as transportation for clinical/medical appointments and accompaniment to court proceedings.

For domestic violence resources see the Information and Assistance section, Crisis Intervention.

The New Parent Support Home Visitation Program (NPSHVP) offers supportive and caring services to military families who are expecting or have children up to 3 years old. Designed particularly for those at risk, families are assessed to determine whether they need help managing the demands of a newborn or young child. The NPSHVP is a prevention program that provides services to promote healthy family life through referrals, screening and assessment, home visitation, and opportunities to learn/enhance parenting skills using the Nurturing Parent curriculum.

Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) Program provides sexual assault awareness and prevention education, victim advocacy, response coordination, case management, and incident data collection to active-duty personnel, adult family members, and commands. For sexual assault resources see our resources for Crisis Intervention.

The Navy Gold Star Program is the Navy’s official program for providing long-term non-medical case management, information, and referral, education, recognition, and support services to surviving families of service members who pass while on active duty.