A Message From The Chair...

This nation's current overseas conflicts are unique in the degree to which our fighting force is comprised of fathers and mothers for whom answering the call to service has meant leaving their children. A significant, if hard-toquantify, cost of this nation's commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan has been borne bravely by those children of deployed service members.

We all recognize that the sudden removal of a parent to a war zone can be tough on kids, some more than others. Extended or multiple deployments increase the challenges at home. For children, the strain can show up in academic performance, in conduct within and outside the home, and in their overall sense of well-being.

A number of organizations have comprehensive programs in place to support these children and their at-home parents. They include, to mention a few, several programs under the Defense Department's Office of Community and Family Policy, the family and youth services offices of each of the armed services, the National Military Family Association, the Military Child Education Coalition, the Armed Services YMCA, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and Our Military Kids, Inc.

These programs work to create "safe zones" in schools where structured programming keeps children's minds off family worries and war, to train educators and coaches to support these children effectively, to make counseling available where appropriate, and to reach out to at-home parents to help them meet financial, child-care and other challenges raised by the deployment of a spouse. As one example of a good idea well executed, the National Military Family Association has created a free summer camp program that to date has served more than 5,000 military children and teenagers. The camps help children and youth commiserate with others in the same boat while temporarily giving at-home parents a respite from their childcare duties. Among other benefits, these programs can help to straighten out teens who might be prone to bad behavior when a parent goes to war.

Like operational military budgets, however, public and private resources to support families experiencing deployment or re-deployment have been stretched thin. According to a recent study by the NMFA, the strain on families affected by deployments has become measurably greater in recent years, while the energies of many volunteers who stepped up to assist those families have been overtaxed.

Lawmakers at all levels might look to whether they can ease this mounting burden by adopting practical protections for these families. Congress, for example, could take up in earnest the pros and cons of extending employee leave rights to grand-parents and other non-parent caregivers who are thrust into the role of child-raiser when a parent is deployed. At the state level, the fact that some states have pro-actively amended public school residency requirements to accommodate children in these families begs the question of why other states have not followed suit.

Looking out for the interests of this special constituency is everybody's responsibility. The ABA Commission on Youth at Risk has been appointed by ABA President Karen Mathis to examine ways that lawyers, the legal system and other professionals can better identify and assist at-risk youth- primarily young people ages 13 through 19. The Commission will address, among many subjects of interest: ways to enhance the juvenile justice system, for example by giving teenagers a stronger voice in proceedings that affect them; reforming the legal system's handling of "status offenses"; and better ways to support teens facing difficulties at home. Efforts are already under way to ensure that the special challenges facing children and youth in military communities are fully represented in the important work of the Commission. It is my hope and expectation that we in the civilian and military communities who are committed to the children of the military will do our utmost to fully inform the Commission on the challenges facing youngsters whose parents have been deployed.

Toward that end, and as a first step, a Youth at Risk Roundtable with a special emphasis on children inmilitary communities washeld on November 16 at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, in conjunction with LAMP Committee events. Our collective efforts will help enable the Commission to make policy recommendations designed to make a difference in these young people's lives.

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