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Directive Lays Out Future of the Military Family Services Program
The Military Family Services Program (MFSP) Enhancement Initiative has an important new document backing it up. The Chief Military Personnel has recently issued a directive outlining the planned enhancements for the MFSP called the Strategic Initiating Directive – Enhancement of the Military Family Support Capability.
This document validates the work currently being carried out by Director Military Family Services (DMFS) and selected Canadian/Military Family Resource Centres (C/MFRCs) to improve Canadian Forces (CF) family services. It also sets the tone for future policy and program improvements, reinforcing the need for family services to adapt and evolve over time.
Since this document will prove so important to the work of DMFS over the coming months and years, we wanted to share it with our family services stakeholders. As this is also a military document, DMFS thought it would also be helpful to pick out a few key points we don’t want to get lost in the acronyms and Forces-speak.
It’s important that this directive reinforces the Enhancement Initiative’s primary goal of supporting the operational effectiveness of the CF. Strong families really do mean a strong military – families that are well-supported allow the military to meets its recruitment and retention goals, and keep its personnel deployable and ready for work. This directive reminds us that through the Enhancement Initiative, the CF is reaching out to families to acknowledge the value of wives, husbands, children and parents to the success of military operations.
This document also stresses the inherent resilience and capacity of CF families. This directive reminds us that the Enhancement Initiative is not about being overprotective towards CF families, but rather about building on their existing strength with useful, high quality services that are available if they need them.
Finally, this directive tells C/MFRCs that the military leadership believes in them – C/MFRCs are identified as the family services providers of choice. This directive acknowledges that families know and trust their C/MFRCs, and with the planned improvements to the MFSP, families will receive an even higher calibre of services from their local Centres in the future.
“The inherent agility of C/MFRCs is critical to the successful enhancement of the MFSP,” says Celine Thompson. “As hands-on service providers, C/MFRCs know the immediate needs of families best, and we are pleased that this directive values their contributions so highly.”
DMFS is pleased to share this document with our family services stakeholders. We look forward to working together to accomplish the goals this directive sets out for all of us.
Click on the link to read the Strategic Initiating Directive – Enhancement of the Military Family Support Capability.
