SUPPORTING PARENTS OF VETERANS

Supporting parents of Veterans

Post -Deployment:

A retrospective study

Maria Ceja-Bravo

California State University of Long Beach

Thesis Committee: Dr. Molly Ranney (Chair)

Problem Statement

There are approximately 26 million living U.S. veterans, of which nearly three-quarters served during a war or an official period of conflict. Approximately one-quarter of the nation's population, approximately 70 million people, are potentially eligible for VA benefits and services because they are veterans, family members, or survivors of veterans.(Seibyl,2002). Specifically most societies consider veterans of military service a special subgroup by virtue of the sacrifices they have made and the often extraordinary risks they have incurred in defense of their nation. As a result, governments make particular benefits and service available to them and the public takes responsibility for assuring the well being of this special group of citizens. It is thus a matter of concern that veterans are represented in great numbers among homeless Americans. There is considerable research that focuses on the family and the effects of post- deployment. Currently there is limited research that indicates the challenges that parents and families expreinace after veterans return home with PTSD, TBI and other adjustments conditions.

Purpose of the study

This Study will describe a number of government programs, services, and benefits to veterans and their families—including medical and health care, psychological care, educational and rehabilitative services, housing, transitional assistance to the civilian sector, and burial services. Benefits for veterans include disability compensation and pensions, education and training, medical care, research, vocational rehabilitation, home loan assistance, insurance, and VA national cemeteries. For example, disability compensation is a monetary benefit paid to veterans who are disabled by injury or disease incurred or aggravated during active military service. The aim of this study will be to analyze the government supporting policies and programmes and explore the challenges that parents experincance once their veterans return. This study will address the following research questions:

What were the challenges that you experinace post-deployment?

What were the difficulties' in adjusting to the changes regarding post-deployment?

What types of supportive services were helpful to the family?

How difficult was it to navigate the benefit system ?

What emotions did you experience during the process of adjustment?

Literature Review

Some of the more recent research on electoral politics and voting behavior supports the conventional view that while voter turnout rate among Americans maybe modest, in the aggregate, military veterans tend to vote at higher rates than nonveterans. For instance, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, during the 2004 presidential election, the percentage of veterans who voted was roughly 73 percent, nearly 10 percentage points higher than nonveterans. Furthermore, using longitudinal statistical analyses run on data complied by the same agency, researchers find the difference in voting behavior between veterans and nonveterans is evident as early as the 1970s. Because veterans have some of the highest turnout rate in the electorate, and because candidates campaigning for election (or re-election) seek to maximize their votes in order to win, candidates and their respective political parties often search for ways to attract veterans ...