Army Exceptional Family Member Program
The Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) is based on Public Law 94-142 which
entitles handicapped children to free education and all medically related services in pursuit of education. The
EFMP includes all family members with special medical and educational needs.
Soldiers enroll through their local Army medical treatment facility. The military sponsor and the attending medical
or educational specialist complete enrollment forms. The completed forms are forwarded to the regional EFMP team
to review and forward this information to PERSCOM. Exceptional Family Member enrollment needs to be reviewed at
least every three years.
When a soldier who is enrolled in the EFMP is nominated for assignment, PERSCOM will coordinate with the gaining
command to determine if services are available. When services are not available, PERSCOM considers alternative
assignment locations based on existing assignment priorities or sends the soldier in an unaccompanied status.
The EFMP policies are as follows:
o Exceptional Family Member Program information is not maintained in local or DA level files that are viewed by
selection boards or assignment managers.
o All soldiers with assignment instructions for outside the continental U.S. who elect to request dependent travel
must have family members medically and educationally screened and, if required, enrolled in the EFMP. This process
should be initiated within 30 days of receipt of assignment instructions.
o Deletion from assignment instructions is not granted solely because of a soldier's enrollment in the EFMP. The
EFMP program is designed to be an assignment consideration, if pre-enrolled, and not an assignment limitation.
Soldiers could be reassigned to an "all others tour" to meet Army requirements.
o Deferment for soldiers with family members enrolled in the EFMP is granted when family travel decisions from
the gaining command are not finalized.
o The governing regulation is AR
608-75, Exceptional Family Member Program, dated May 1996
Information Courtesy of U.S. Army
