Domestic Abuse Policy, Family Violence Policy Office
Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Military Community and Family Policy)
Department of Defense (DoD)
Challenge
Over the last three years, the Department of Defense (DoD) has strengthened its response to domestic abuse in the military community through a series of directive-type memoranda issued by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, policies influenced by recommendations made by the Congressionally-mandated Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence. The Department turned to Axiom to facilitate the integration of these memoranda into a comprehensive domestic abuse policy, which would serve as a single-source reference document for DoD personnel involved in the response to domestic abuse involving service members.
Strategy
Axiom worked closely with Family Violence Policy Office and Family Advocacy Program clients to help draft the DoD Instruction, “Domestic Abuse Involving DoD Military and Certain Affiliated Personnel.” Axiom navigated the new policy coordination process within DoD, the DoD Directives Portal, in order to ensure receipt of the draft policy by DoD components and track their coordination of the document. Axiom also reviewed Federal Register requirements for DoD issuances to determine whether the document required posting for public comment. Axiom also assisted DoD in reviewing, responding to and integrating 535 comments into the Instruction, ensuring consistency with other DoD domestic abuse-related policies and definitions.
Impact
Developing and publishing a single-source document on domestic abuse enables DoD to realize its commitment to prioritizing victim safety and offender accountability consistently across the Military Services. In facilitating the issuance of this Instruction, published on August 21, 2007, Axiom ensured the varying perspectives of multiple stakeholders were considered in the final product. The publication of this Instruction represents a key milestone for the Defense Department.
The Instruction (DODI 6400.06) is available electronically at http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/.
For more information about DoD’s response to family violence, visit MilitaryHOMEFRONT at www.militaryhomefront.dod.mil/service/fap