CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
A group of school counselors from the tri-county area visited Charleston AFB May 5 to learn more about military deployment and its effects on children.
Counselors Understanding Deployment Operations is an interactive program developed to give counselors and teachers a comprehensive understanding of the deployment cycle and what a child might experience while his or her parent is deployed.
Counselors and teachers process through a mock mobility line and are briefed on how to work with children of deployed parents. The educators take away valuable resource information and contacts that can help them long after the event.
Educators play an important role in the lives of children during a deployment. School routines provide stability during unsettling times at home. Educators who know what changes in behavior to watch for in a child can more effectively partner with parents and base care providers to help children cope with the range of emotions they face when parents deploy.
"This (CUDOS) was wonderful. I wish I could have had this years ago," said Kim Davidson, school counselor at Westview and Daniel Island primary schools.
In addition to deployment information, the tri-county school counselors received information on other educational challenges that military-connected children face, such as frequent relocations, age and immunization requirements, graduation requirements, special education needs, timely transfer of school records and the social and emotional needs of being "the new student."
Other programs the Airman and Family Readiness Center officials were excited to talk about, such as the Child and Youth Behavioral Military and Family Life Consultant program, also serve to take care of children in need.
The professionals from the Child and Youth Behavioral Program are available at no cost to provide situational, short-term, problem-solving support to military children, youth and parents. Some of the issues addressed are school adjustment, deployment and separation, reunion adjustment, behavioral concerns, and fear, grief and loss. Their office is located at the Youth Center, but they can meet at other on and off-base locations as well.
For more information on CUDOS or any of the other family readiness programs, contact the Airman and Family Readiness Center at 963-4406.