Acknowledgements

As part of a cooperative agreement, The Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM) commissioned the Clearinghouse for Military Readiness at Penn State (Clearinghouse) to develop evidence-based information, for the prevention of family violence, that supports the Army Community Services (ACS) Family Advocacy Program (FAP) accountability requirements. As part of that effort, the Clearinghouse conducted interviews with FAP managers (FAPMs) to obtain feedback about installation best practices and delivery strategies, ways to improve the FAP Guide, and how to determine key content areas where training is needed for new FAPMs. In addition, the interviews assisted the Clearinghouse in developing a logic model that would help identify where key outcome data could be collected.

As a result of the key findings and recommendations that ensued from this effort, this onboarding training resource for new FAPMs (i.e., the FAP Guide) was created. As per the recommendations of the FAPMs who were interviewed, this FAP Guide focuses on working in the military system and understanding its organizational chain of command, realizing the nature of the FAPM position and its key requirements, recognizing regulation compliance, understanding key budgeting tasks, and adapting information and programming to the characteristics of the installation.

This FAP Guide also provides updates on topics addressed in a former version of a FAP Guide, which was initially produced in 2008 and updated in 2012, and is available as an interactive PDF. Updates on topics include the following:

• Regulation compliance
• Recognizing trends on the installation
• Program adaptations using evidence-based best practices
• Family violence prevention (e.g., abuse prevention, suicide prevention, and childhood trauma/cycle of violence)
• Stressors or risk factors that can lead to violence
• Family-strengthening strategies and methods to increase family resilience
• Evidence-based program selection, including resources for program identification
• Budget management expectations
• Resources for self-regulation, self-care, and self-management
• Program marketing, recruitment, and retention best practices
• Networking and forming relationships

Periodic updates of this guide may occur. When revisiting this guide, use the “Clear History” button at the lower left of each page to refresh the pages you review. This will ensure you are seeing the most recent content. As an alternative, you can clear the cache of your web browser to view the updates for all pages.

For assistance with the FAP Guide, please contact the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at 1-877-382-9185, by email at clearinghouse@psu.edu, or visit us online at https://militaryfamilies.psu.edu/.

The Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State is the result of a partnership funded by the Department of Defense between the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy and the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture through a cooperative agreement with Penn State University.

Content for this resource was developed by researchers from the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness (listed in alphabetical order): Principal Investigators: Miranda P. Kaye, and Daniel F. Perkins. Project Coordinator: Lisa D. White. Project contributors: Grejika Abram-Erby, Lisa L. Bell, Bryan A. Butler, Elise F. Dreibelbis, Jessica F. Lynch, Matthew R. McGee, Brittany E. Sherman, and Tara Saathoff-Wells.