Posted on Apr 6, 2018
Should "minor" military dependent mental health records be used to determine eligibility for the dependent if they choose to sign up?
8.31K
39
11
3
3
0
The Army, Air Force, and Navy have received complaints from military families of potential recruits that were denied service because they received mental health counseling as a minor due to inability to cope with deployments, family issues, PCS, a parent's PTSD, etc. Do you think the military should consider ALL medical records at MEPS to determine eligibility and fitness for service or just those after a certain age?
Posted in these groups: 
Mental Health
Recruiting
Medical
Military service
Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS)
Mental Health Recruiting Medical Military service Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS)
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 5
3
3
0
3
3
0
This is a tough question I find it ironic that the head shrinks we talk to when we come back from deployments tell us there is no stigma and our careers wont be impacted and then the military turns around and does this (if youre referring to the kid who got denied).
(3)
(0)
3
3
0
I don't think the military should have access to ALL mental health records of minors. I think it should be an age limit cut off like it is done for asthma.
(3)
(0)
2
2
0
Family counseling is not usually a disqualification. Every case of mental health should be looked at for eligibility however
(2)
(0)
1
1
0
They only ask if you tell them so don’t tell them. MEPS will not look at your dependent health records unless you provide them to your recruiter. So don’t do it- that is, don’t say it. Otherwise you will need to provide it or you will not get through MEPS.
(1)
(0)
CPT (Join to see)
COL (Join to see) This question was response into recent news where children of service members in multiple branches were declined entry or kicked out after their TRICARE records were reviewed. To my knowledge, none of them told MEPS they had counseling as children. While I’m sure there’s more to the story than Army/AF/Military Times are saying, I’m not sure not saying anything at MEPS was the answer for these ones.
(1)
(0)
(0)
(0)
COL (Join to see)
I guess they forgot about this HIPAA thing. Just because you are enlisting doesn’t mean they get to look into your medical past. The only legal way MEPS obtained those records is if they were given consent by the recruit. This is exactly what HIPAA was trying to prevent.
(0)
(0)
COL (Join to see)
I don’t recall either of my kids being required to sign a release for medical records from Tricare. As a matter of fact we had a hard time with my son because we had to go to Walter Reed to get documentation of his car accident treatment. If he had signed a release we wouldn’t have had to retrieve the documents ourself.
(1)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google