DoDEA LEAs Education and Support
Describing Circumstances for the Family
This paper describes the circumstances of the Military children and adolescents concerning the first transcript, which entails the case of Michael Wilkinson – a father of Brittany, who had acute respiratory dysfunction. The father joined the Air Force and admitted the daughter to Lackland: a military Air Force hospital. Later on, he further got married to Kristin Wilkinson. The newly married couple and the step-children made it difficult for the existing family to relate well together. However, Kristin made rules about how they will be living: an action that was appreciated by the family. Since that day, they lived  peacefully without any problem. This is a Student Sample ORDER YOUR PAPER NOW
How the Family  utilized the DoDEA School System
Blaisure, et al. (2016) says that DoDEA schools assign families close to the appropriate services. Such families can last in such places for about four years without being re-assigned. In the transcript, Michael was stationed at a place where medical services were closely available for her daughter. Furthermore, DoDEA services are cheaper and employ qualified and skilled personnel. It is probably because the government financially supports them. Michael says he moved to the Air Force since treating Brittany in an ordinary hospital will result to outrageous medical bills.
The military services also provided individualized support for the families by enabling their parents to send stuff to the ports through the ships. When Michael was away, he used to email his children as well as the wife. He also sent them commodities to collect at the ports. At times, he was allowed to come home to spend some time with the family before resuming to work. These activities make the DoDEA system to be convenient for the commissioned officers and also their families.
How DoDEA Scenarios are different from Civilian Schools
In DoDEA schools, parents are required to sign for the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) which is used by the military to assist families with special needs. On the other hand, public and private schools, in the US, use the Individualized Education Program, where a committee decides on cases concerning children with sensitive needs (Fugate, 2014). The EFMP assisted Brittany by taking her to the military hospital for treatment of the respiratory disease.
For the military schools, not only do the students learn academics, but they also experience other aspects which add value to their social lives (Bradshaw, Sudhinaraset, Mmari, & Blum, 2010). For example, Brittany had to struggle to make new friends despite her health condition. She and her siblings would wait for their father for a long time before he would return home from work. In the case of the other schools, only co-curricular and non-co-curricular activities take place. Parents can ask for transfer letters to transfer their children to the school that they want. If Brittany was in this type of a school, she would already have friends from her home hood and may be relatives. Their father probably would be coming back daily if he was not in the Air Force.
Social Work Strategies that can be utilized by the Family
Zastrow, (2013) defines social work as the process through which an individual or a group of people work with a purpose of alleviating the welfare of people or society in need. It also involves creating good relations with others. In our transcript; it’s only Michael, the father who is working. If her wife too were working but returning home in the evening, it would have been a better strategy. The children would spend time at school, and this approach would reduce instances of grounding Brittany. Moreover, the family’s income would increase. I would encourage Kristin to find a job within the station to be working during the day but spend the night with the children.
From the available information concerning the family, it lives alone; they do not explain about their neighbors in the station, their friends or relatives. I would suggest to the family to create a good relationship for socialization. This strategy would assist them to avoid boredom, know and explore more and form networks. The only person Bella socializes with is her sister Brittany. They could also interact with their neighbors.
Importance of the Military Culture in the Scenario
This culture is said to be unique, well-structured and mission-oriented. The culture emphasizes more on the mission of the duty allocated. In the transcript, Michael was made to spend most of his time working for the Air Force. He hardly found time to come to his family. In return, the work paid him handsomely, and he was able to send stuff to the port for his family. This is a Student Sample ORDER YOUR PAPER NOW
Secondly, the culture allows the government to take care of the military officers’ families (Esposito-Smythers, Wolff, Bodzy, Lemmon, Swenson, & Spirito, 2011). In our scenario, Michael’s family was relocated and stationed at the Air Force base where school and hospitals were available. Furthermore, Michael’s sick child healed her respiratory papilloma. Were it not for the army, he would have too much time working to pay for the bills which could have incurred in case of a civilian hospital.
Last but not least, the culture assisted in developing discipline between Brittney and her step-mother. When Michael was away, Kristin made rules which were to be followed by the family. Since that day, she says everything changed, she never grounded the children again, and their relationship with the husband became great. That shows the kids had learned discipline in the military school.
References
Blaisure, K. R., Saathoff-wells, T., Pereira, a., Macdermid Wadsworth, s., & Dombro, A. L.
(2016). Serving military families (2nd Ed.). New York: NY: Routledge. Chapter 4, “children and youth in military families” (pp. 73-97)
Bradshaw, C. P., Sudhinaraset, m., Mmari, c., & Blum, r. w. (2010). School transitions among
Military adolescents: a qualitative study of stress and coping. School psychology review, 39(1), 84–105. Retrieved from the Walden library databases.
Esposito-Smythers, C., Wolff, j., Bodzy, M., Lemmon, k. m., Swenson, R. R., & Spirito, A.
(2011). Military youth and the deployment cycle: emotional health consequences and Recommendations for intervention. Journal of family psychology, 25(4), 497–507. Retrieved from the Walden library databases.
Fugate, M. E. (2014). Schools That Serve Military Children: A Comparison of the Standardized
Test Scores in the DoDea School System Versus the Civilian School System (Doctoral dissertation, Utah State University).
Zastrow, C. (2013). Brooks/Cole Empowerment Series: Introduction to Social Work and Social
 Welfare. Cengage Learning.
