EFMP in Florida: What Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Families Should Know

The Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) is often the first military program a family meets after an autism diagnosis. For active duty families it is not optional: TRICARE requires it before your child can get ABA, and your service uses it when deciding assignments. This guide explains what EFMP is, what qualifies, how enrollment works, how it affects orders to MacDill Air Force Base, Naval Air Station Jacksonville or Naval Station Mayport, and who to call in Florida. Facts are from Military OneSource, the Department of Defense installation directory and tricare.mil as of October 20, 2026.

What is EFMP?

Military OneSource describes EFMP as working "through identification and enrollment, assignment coordination and Family Support." In plain terms:

• Identification and enrollment records your family member's medical or educational needs with your service.
• Assignment coordination means those needs are considered when you are being assigned to a new duty station.
• Family Support is the help you get at the installation: information and referrals, education and outreach, information about local schools and early intervention, warm handoffs when you move and non-clinical case management, including family services plans.

Each service runs its own EFMP office, but the Department of Defense has standardized much of the process across the services. Military OneSource lists recent standardized changes to respite care, family support contacts, enrollment, assignment reviews and disenrollment.

What qualifies for EFMP?

The DoD installation directory says family members (a spouse, child or dependent adult) with documented special medical or educational needs are required to enroll. That includes family members who:

• require special medical services for a chronic condition;
• require adaptive equipment, assistive technology, or environmental or architectural changes for a chronic condition;
• receive ongoing services from a medical specialist;
• have significant behavioral health concerns; or
• receive, or are eligible for, early intervention or special education services from birth through age 21.

The full criteria are in Department of Defense Instruction 1315.19. For autism families the question is usually settled by TRICARE: its Autism Care Demonstration page says "ADSMs with a child diagnosed with ASD must enroll in your service branch's Exceptional Family Member Program." A child with an IEP or an Early Steps plan will usually meet the educational criteria too.

Enrollment is mandatory for active duty members. If your sponsor is in the Guard or Reserve and not on active duty, or is retired, ask your service's EFMP office whether enrollment applies to you.

How do you enroll in EFMP?

Military OneSource's standardized enrollment process has four steps:

1. Start with the EFMP office at your military hospital or clinic. If you think your child meets the criteria, contact the military treatment facility's EFMP office. Doctors or school staff connected to the military may also refer you.
2. Complete the forms with your child's providers. Medical needs go on the DD Form 2792, "Family Member Medical Summary." Educational needs go on the DD Form 2792-1, "Early Intervention/Special Education Summary," and you must attach a complete, current IEP or IFSP. You fill in the demographics section and the provider completes the rest. Read it before you sign: if it does not show the full picture of your child's needs, tell the provider. The service member cannot sign for a family member who is over the age of majority.
3. Form review. The EFMP coordinator checks the packet for completeness, helps you fill gaps and sends it to the service enrollment office.
4. The service decides. The enrollment office tells you whether your family member meets the criteria. After enrollment, the Family Support office explains what help is available.

Keep it current. You must update the information every three years, or sooner when your child's needs change, with a new DD Form 2792 or 2792-1.

Watch the 90-day TRICARE clock

EFMP is tied to TRICARE's Extended Care Health Option (ECHO). Active duty families must be registered in ECHO for ABA under the Autism Care Demonstration, and ECHO registration requires EFMP enrollment. Humana Military's TRICARE East welcome guide says families have 90 days to meet EFMP requirements and that after 90 days "no extensions are allowed," so ABA and ECHO benefits stop if registration is not complete. Start EFMP paperwork as soon as you have the diagnosis.

How does EFMP affect assignments to MacDill, NAS Jacksonville and Mayport?

When an enrolled service member is identified for a possible assignment, EFMP staff research whether the services your family member needs are available at the gaining location. Military OneSource lists the factors they weigh:

• availability of military treatment facility and TRICARE providers;
• TRICARE access to care standards;
• distance to care;
• wait times for medical providers;
• how severe the family member's needs are; and
• how often care is needed.

The assignment is then recommended or not recommended. If it is not recommended, the service tells the service member the reason and how to ask for a second review. Military OneSource says the request is due within 14 days of the original assignment notification (its fact sheet says business days, its article says calendar days, so confirm the count with your office), with updated forms and documents from a medical or educational provider. A final decision follows within 30 calendar days of the original notification. If services are not available, personnel may look for another assignment, or the service member may be able to go unaccompanied depending on service policy.

For a Florida assignment, this means the EFMP review looks at whether TRICARE ABA providers, specialists and school services are reachable from the base. You can help by telling your EFMP office which local providers you have already contacted. Our local guides for MacDill AFB families and NAS Jacksonville and Mayport families list base and county contacts.

When you move, Military OneSource says EFMP Family Support at the new installation should contact you for a warm handoff. If no one calls, you can ask your current Family Support office to arrange it. See PCS to Florida with an autistic child for a full move timeline.

Who do you call in Florida?

These contacts are from the Department of Defense MilitaryINSTALLATIONS directory as viewed on October 20, 2026. Hours and numbers change, so call before you visit.

School liaisons help with school transfers, special education referrals and links back to EFMP; see school liaison officers in Florida. Army and Marine Corps families stationed in Florida use their own service's EFMP office, which the installation directory links from each base page.

What other EFMP support can families use?

• EFMP respite care. Military OneSource says eligible enrolled families receive a standard number of monthly respite hours, that respite now covers adult dependents but no longer covers sibling care, and that families can request more in exceptional circumstances. It calls respite "a program benefit, not an entitlement." ECHO respite is a separate TRICARE benefit, and Florida has state options; see respite care in Florida.
• Special needs consultations. Military OneSource consultants work by phone or video and can research community resources for you.
• EFMP & Me. A free online tool from Military OneSource that gives families 24/7 access to EFMP guidance and resources.
• Family needs assessment and family services plan through your installation's Family Support provider, who Military OneSource says must make at least one personal contact a year with each family on their caseload.

Can you leave EFMP later?

Military OneSource says the disenrollment process is now standardized and more transparent: families are told what counts as disenrollment and how to do it. Before you consider it, remember that TRICARE ties ECHO, and therefore ABA for active duty families, to EFMP enrollment. Ask your EFMP office and Humana Military how a change would affect your child's ABA before you sign anything.

How Hope Center supports EFMP families

Hope Center for Behavior Change accepts TRICARE East (Humana Military) and has no waitlist. We do not process EFMP paperwork, which belongs to your service and your child's doctors, but we can share your child's ABA treatment plan and progress reports with you for your packet, and with your permission our staff can join IEP meetings where the school allows. Our centers include Temple Terrace (Tampa) and Jacksonville, and we see families at home, at school, at daycare and in the community.

Read more on our military families page, then ask for a free consultation and benefits check or call 561-337-8865.