Moving from base to base, state to state, or even country to country can be a trying experience for any family, but families with special needs can face even greater challenges.

“We have many stateside and overseas bases that can be quite remote, where they don’t have access to medical facilities or special education services,” says Stephanie Koonst, the Family Support Coordinator at Little Rock Air Force Base.

That’s where the U.S. Air Force’s Exceptional Family Member Program comes in. “The EFMP is in place to identify any family member of an active duty member who has a special need that would require services, so it’s a pretty wide umbrella,” Koonst says. “It could be a child with autism; it could be a spouse who is an insulin-dependent diabetic. The whole purpose is to send them where services would be available to the family member.”

One of the biggest draws for families stationed at the Little Rock Air Force Base is the proximity to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital. In addition to ensuring families are sent to locations with adequate services for their needs, the program also provides support in transferring and transitioning. Koonst says their ESMP families feel comforted knowing they’ll have a built-in support system with other members everywhere they are stationed.

Plus, families can take advantage of monthly support groups, educational speakers and social functions. For Autism Awareness Month in April, the LRAFB held a walk in support of family members with Autism. They’ve also offered developmental screenings for children ages 0-4 years for early intervention, and hosted Halloween carnivals and fishing clinics at the base’s lake.

“The more that we get them out, the more they create their own support systems,” Koonst says. “Our families are very transient. So just knowing that they’ll be able to replicate those relationships they’ve developed and where to reach out for assistance is important.”