Current Realities:

• BRAC is hiring a consulting firm to complete the study, which will take 2 years to complete. The goal of the study is to address how community needs will be met and recommendations will be made to address those needs, one of which will be funding recommendations.
• Those typically developing children birth to five years as well as those with developmental disabilities, medical conditions, behavioral concerns, etc are not addressed in the current BRAC scope of work. The main concern is the community's capacity to serve additional military families without additional resources/funding. An increase in referral numbers for state and locally funded programs does not mean an increase in budgetary funding. Wait lists and quality of services will be compromised if additional funding to serve these families is not received.   In addition, those children determined eligible for the Infant Toddler Program who may need intervention services will also suffer if the services are not available in the community due to the increase in referrals.
• Ft. Bragg is an The Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) site. Oour military families have stated that they have selected to come to Ft. Bragg because of the services available. However, once they arrive, they are often put on wait lists for services because there are not enough resources available to serve all of the children within the community.
• Military families who live off post are also very frustrated that their children cannot benefit from on-post services such as therapies, as they are only allowed to serve on-post families. Military families will likely need quality daycare services, which will also be impacted and should be addressed to assure availability of those services. Within the military system, the Educational and Developmental Intervention Services (EDIS) program will also be effected by the influx of families. {Email from Lisa Hemstreet}