Description:
This report presents the results of an evaluation of support to military families through 12 programs and services. The evaluation was undertaken between October 2011 and July 2012. Its purpose was to examine program relevance and performance for the period 2007 to 2012 and to inform future management decisions related to program/service delivery and resource allocation. The clients for this evaluation are the Deputy Minister (DM) and the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) as well as Level 1 senior managers within the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Forces (CF).
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Overall Assessment
There is a continued need for support to military families as a result of the demands of military life. Support to military families is aligned with Government of Canada priorities and federal roles and responsibilities. Despite some success in achieving expected outcomes, Military Family Support (MFS) programs and services are not sufficiently focused on key military family support requirements. Current spending does not adequately address key support gaps for military families. These gaps can primarily be filled by reallocating existing resources.
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Finding #4. Overall Effectiveness
Despite some success in achieving intended outcomes, MFS programs/services are not sufficiently focused on the key military family support requirements. In particular, there are unmet needs with respect to continuity of and/or access to childcare and health care, as well as spousal employment/career support. While it will be difficult for the DND/CF to make significant progress on access to health care and spousal employment support due to systemic issues,[2] the Department's leadership and sustained effort is required to address these systemic disadvantages for military families. Improvements to continuity of access to child care are more directly achievable by the DND/CF and options to improve continuity for military families should be identified and assessed for implementation.