USFK Assists Abandoned Spouses of GIs
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The U.S. Army in South Korea has started a program to help women left stranded by their soldier-husbands, according to a U.S. military newspaper Friday.
Under the program called an "Abandoned Spouses Hotline," about 30 women have gotten help, the Stars & Stripes said. U.S. officials here hope the program will become a model for U.S. military communities around the world, it said.
The program has mostly come to the aid of women whose husbands have left South Korea with no apparent intention of taking their wives or children with them, said the newspaper.
"It is against Army regulations. You cannot abandon your family," Elizabeth Samarripa, the Army Community Services outreach program coordinator for Area I, north of Seoul, was quoted as saying.
Samarripa said she tries to contact the husbands, and if her e-mails to the soldiers go unanswered, she refers those situations to the soldiers' chain of command. They are usually forced to take responsibility for their wives and families under the threat of court-martial.
The key to the success of the program is getting the word out to the women who might need help. Public service announcements air on the American Forces Network inviting spouses left behind by their military husbands to call the hot line (0505-730-3635), where they are directed to leave a message and their contact information in one of five languages (English, Korean, Spanish, Russian or Tagalog), according to the newspaper.
The spouses often need help with visas, green cards and Social Security numbers, Samarripa said, as well as assistance getting access to base services, including medical care and legal advice.