A Navy family care plan is completed by filling out two forms — NAVPERS 1740/6 (Family Care Plan Certificate) and NAVPERS 1740/7 (Family Care Plan Arrangements) — assembling a supporting package that includes a Special Power of Attorney and a medical records release, and submitting everything electronically through the Navy Standard Integrated Personnel System (NSIPS) for your commanding officer’s approval. Both forms are downloadable from the MyNavy HR website.1MyNavy HR. Family Care Plan
Who Has to File One
OPNAVINST 1740.4E requires active-duty and reserve sailors to maintain a current plan if they are single parents with custody, part of a dual-military couple with dependents, in a blended family with custody of a child from a prior relationship, or legally responsible for an adult who cannot care for themselves. A fifth category is broader: any change in family status that makes you primarily responsible for another person’s care, including the birth or adoption of a child, loss of a spouse, a spouse’s serious illness, or a family member who cannot access basic services at an isolated duty station. A commanding officer can also direct you to file a plan if your circumstances could interfere with deployment, even if you don’t fit cleanly into one of the categories.2Department of the Navy. OPNAVINST 1740.4E – U.S. Navy Family Care Policy
What to Gather Before You Start
Pull the caregiver information and legal paperwork together before you open either form. Missing pieces are the most common reason a plan bounces back during command review.
Caregivers
You need at least two: a short-term caregiver who can take over quickly when you deploy, and a long-term caregiver who handles extended absences. Both should be civilians. Naming another service member defeats the purpose if that person is also subject to deployment. Each caregiver needs to understand what they are agreeing to, including day-to-day decisions about schooling, medical care, and housing. Collect each one’s full legal name, address, phone number, and email — all of it goes into NAVPERS 1740/7.1MyNavy HR. Family Care Plan
Special Power of Attorney
A Special Power of Attorney (SPOA) gives your caregiver the legal authority to act on your behalf for your dependents: enrolling them in school, consenting to medical treatment, arranging travel. The Navy JAG Corps runs an online SPOA generator at jag.navy.mil that produces the same document you would get at a Region Legal Service Office. You fill in the details online, but the document is not valid until you sign it in person before a legal officer, a legal assistance notary at an RLSO, or a state-licensed notary public.3Navy JAG Corps. Special Power of Attorney If you are unsure whether your SPOA covers everything the caregiver will need to do, book an appointment at a legal assistance office before you sign.
Medical and Financial Records
Your caregiver needs access to your dependents’ medical records for routine and emergency care. DD Form 2870 (Authorization for Disclosure of Medical or Dental Information) authorizes a military treatment facility or DoD health plan to share your dependent’s protected health information with the caregiver. You complete Section II, naming the caregiver as the authorized recipient. The authorization is voluntary and revocable in writing at any time, but without it, the facility cannot release records outside its normal chain of access.4Defense Technical Information Center. Authorization for Disclosure of Medical or Dental Information
On the financial side, organize bank account information, allotment paperwork, or whatever mechanism will give the caregiver funds for food, housing, clothing, and daily expenses. If you are setting up a military allotment to the caregiver’s account, start that early so the first payment arrives before you deploy. Also gather copies of each dependent’s birth certificate, Social Security card, and insurance documentation, whether TRICARE or civilian.
DEERS Enrollment
Your dependents must be enrolled in DEERS to access TRICARE, base facilities, and other benefits. A child who is not yet registered needs DD Form 1172-2 (Application for Identification Card/DEERS Enrollment), which you bring in person to a Real-Time Automated Personnel Identification System (RAPIDS) workstation at an ID card office. Any change to dependent eligibility must be reported within 30 days.5Common Access Card (CAC) – Department of Defense. Application for Identification Card/DEERS Enrollment
Filling Out NAVPERS 1740/6 and 1740/7
The two forms do different jobs, and both are downloadable from the MyNavy HR Family Care Plan page.
NAVPERS 1740/6, Family Care Plan Certificate
This is the certification page. It records your identifying information, confirms which required category applies to you, and carries signature blocks for you and your commanding officer. The current revision is dated February 2022. Caregiver signatures are no longer required on the 1740/6 or on annual recertifications, which makes the process easier if your caregiver lives far away.1MyNavy HR. Family Care Plan
NAVPERS 1740/7, Family Care Plan Arrangements
This is where the substance of the plan lives. It asks for the names and contact information of your short-term and long-term caregivers, how your dependents will physically get to the caregiver, financial support arrangements, and any special circumstances such as medical conditions or educational needs. The current revision is dated October 2024. If a dependent is enrolled in the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP), attach the standard documentation: DD Form 2792 for medical summaries and DD Form 2792-1 for special education summaries.
Your command’s Career Counselor or administrative office can provide copies of both forms and walk you through sections that are not self-explanatory.
Submitting the Plan and Getting Command Approval
Completed forms go into NSIPS. The full package includes NAVPERS 1740/6, NAVPERS 1740/7, your signed and notarized SPOA, the DD Form 2870, and any supporting documents such as custody orders or EFMP paperwork. Your commanding officer, or a designated representative, reviews the package and signs the 1740/6 to approve it.1MyNavy HR. Family Care Plan
You must submit a new or updated plan when you report to a new duty station or when your caregiver, personal, or family circumstances change. Some command-level instructions set a specific deadline. The Naval Legal Service Command Manual, for example, requires personnel under its authority to file within 60 days of arriving at a command or experiencing a material change. Even where your command has not published a specific number of days, treat it as urgent. A plan that is not on file when a deployment order drops is the same as no plan at all.
Once approved, the plan is uploaded to your Electronic Service Record. Commands also keep local copies so they can pull your care arrangements immediately during a short-notice mobilization.
Keeping the Plan Current
Plans are reviewed annually. The recertification confirms that your caregivers are still willing and available, that contact information is current, that financial arrangements still work, and that legal documents have not expired.1MyNavy HR. Family Care Plan
Outside the annual cycle, certain events require an immediate update: the birth or adoption of a child, a divorce or separation, the death or serious illness of a spouse, a caregiver’s relocation, or taking on responsibility for an elderly or disabled family member. If your situation changes and the plan no longer reflects reality, the OPNAVINST treats it as invalid until corrected.2Department of the Navy. OPNAVINST 1740.4E – U.S. Navy Family Care Policy
Where Court Orders Limit the Plan
A family care plan does not override a custody agreement, divorce decree, or any other court order addressing child custody and support. OPNAVINST 1740.4E is explicit that the plan is subject to existing court orders and cannot change, modify, or replace them. If your custody arrangement restricts where your child can live or travel, your plan has to work within those boundaries. A SPOA cannot be used to move your child to a caregiver in another state if a court order prohibits the relocation.2Department of the Navy. OPNAVINST 1740.4E – U.S. Navy Family Care Policy
The instruction advises sailors to have a legal assistance office review the plan against any existing orders. This is where plans most often run into trouble: a draft looks clean on paper but conflicts with a custody arrangement the command does not know about. Legal review early avoids that.
What Happens Without a Plan
The Department of Defense treats the absence of a family care plan as a readiness failure. Under DoD Instruction 1342.19, service members who fail to produce a plan may be subject to disciplinary or administrative action, up to and including separation from the service.6Department of Defense. DoD Instruction 1342.19 – Family Care Plans Being processed for administrative separation does not mean automatic discharge; it means the command initiates the process, which can end in discharge if you cannot or will not come into compliance.
As a practical matter, a missing or invalid plan does two things. It flags you to the command as someone who cannot deploy, which affects your evaluations and assignment options. And if an emergency order comes and you have no plan, your dependents are left in an improvised situation with no legal backing — no one has authority to sign school forms, consent to surgery, or access your bank account to pay for groceries. The paperwork exists to prevent that outcome.