Cadets/Mids and children

bookreader said:
Article in Stars and Stripes about a new policy that will let cadets who become parents while attending a Service Academy keep custody of their children.

Cadets at the service academies can now have children while attending school​


www.stripes.com

Cadets at the service academies can now have children while attending school

www.stripes.com www.stripes.com
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Hmmmm - now allowed to have a child but still forbidden to get married while a cadet/ midshipmen. Like Dagwood taking a bite of a monster sandwich, I'll need to digest that combination a little - well for more than a little...
 
Herman_Snerd said:
Hmmmm - now allowed to have a child but still forbidden to get married while a cadet/ midshipmen. Like Dagwood taking a bite of a monster sandwich, I'll need to digest that combination a little - well for more than a little...
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It’s not like the academies are waving a big flag that says “Have children out of wedlock!” We’re generally talking about pregnancies that are unplanned. These new rules are to protect the interests of the children and parents without compromising their career. Making the best out of a sticky situation.
 
So the children will receive health benefits through the cadet?Edit I didnt scroll down enough but see the answer now from the article.
 
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Kierkegaard said:
It’s not like the academies are waving a big flag that says “Have children out of wedlock!” We’re generally talking about pregnancies that are unplanned. These new rules are to protect the interests of the children and parents without compromising their career. Making the best out of a sticky situation.
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Yes I agree. In my opinion it might save the lives of unplanned babies. The article says that they would have to sign temporary custody to someone else. It would be a very difficult situation, but it makes it possible for an unplanned baby to be born and cared for, while also allowing the cadet to graduate. I don't have a problem with that.
 
Kierkegaard said:
It’s not like the academies are waving a big flag that says “Have children out of wedlock!” We’re generally talking about pregnancies that are unplanned. These new rules are to protect the interests of the children and parents without compromising their career. Making the best out of a sticky situation.
Click to expand...
Appreciate you sharing these details and perspective. I agree we're talking generally about unplanned pregnancies. If these are rules to protect the children from forced-hand abortion and forced waiving of parental rights by SA parent(s) - agree. I'm glad too the LOA is offered as a path to resume one's military training and career. But these rules as now defined are IMO incomplete - not comprehensive - these rules do not cradle these newborns or the mids going through with births with support- it leaves them exposed in a number of ways.

The 2021 policy change is certainly progress but I see a couple of areas that I hope will continue to evolve.
1. Insurance for the newborn child(ren) is not offered. As the article stated, perhaps this will be considered as a future benefit.
2. Insurance for the midshipman/ cadet while on leave is not cemented/ confirmed - again perhaps it will be - not everyone has a support network, two active parents, health insurance from their parents (or has parents still alive/ not in prison, etc. A shame if these mids on LOA have to go on medicaid/ welfare where that's offered (not all at the academies are from the US).
2. Recoupment of funds is still on the table for those who take a LOA or who may not return.

As a scenario, let's say an upper-class midshipman has a child born with severe medical issues requiring multiple hospitalizations, medicine, and near round the clock care. They'll be in that turmoil and also handed a 200k bill to repay if they cannot return to finish their training?

I'm all for celebrating progress but in this case I hope more is done to help these mids and their children to mitigate financial exposure, support them through the first year of having a child. My DW and I are a team and we work together to ensure our children to now-young adults are provided for - my parents did the same for my siblings and I - but not everyone has this support - I hope they do more to help people who decide to keep their children from a pregnancy - planned or not. I applaud the AF Major in the article who went through challenge and is lining up resources to help others - Bravo Zulu.

That's what a few more bites of the dagwood sandwich yielded - feel welcome to share your perspectives as well:)
 
One of the unspoken reasons may have been the disproportionate impact the "old rule" had on females. If a female gets pregnant and keeps the baby, everyone knows. So she either had to have an abortion (usually in secret) or had to quit. However, if a male gets a (non-mid/cadet) female pregnant, no one knows unless the woman speaks up. So the male SA member gets to stay and graduate and the female SA member gets kicked out.

In my day, I knew more than a few mids who had PG girlfriends or kids while at USNA -- found out about quite a few more after graduation when they introduced their child who (based on age) had to be born while they were mids.

I'm not in love with the new rule, but understand it.
 
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