Ombudsman Program

The Coast Guard Ombudsman is an official liaison between commands and families, who serves as a highly-trained volunteer providing support, referrals, and guidance to Coast Guard members and their families.

Through their efforts, an Ombudsman allows Coast Guard members to better achieve mission readiness by knowing their families have an available resource when issues or emergent situations arise.

It is important for all Coast Guard family members to be familiar with their ombudsman and ensure that their ombudsman has current personal contact information.

To contact your ombudsman, visit United States Coast Guard Registry (ombudsmanpfmpregistry.org) and click on "Contact Your Ombudsman."

Ombudsmen:

• Provide information and referral to military and civilian support organizations such as Health, Safety and Work-Life (HSWL) Regional Practice (RP), Coast Guard Mutual Assistance (CGMA), and employee assistance and counseling services (e.g. CG SUPRT, chaplains, etc.)
• Serve as the primary communication link between families and the command, and channel official information from command leadership to families
• Serve as primary point of contact for families
• Participate in official events (pre-deployment briefings, resource fairs, Yellow Ribbon events, etc)
• Advocate for families, using knowledge of the command and Coast Guard to access the appropriate level of the chain of command for intervention and to forward suitable requests or issues

Ombudsmen do NOT:

• Provide childcare
• Loan money
• Plan or hold social functions for the unit
• Act as a sponsor to transferring families (providing personal housing, transportation, etc)
• Serve as a spouse club/association officer
• Solicit for cash or non-cash donations from any non-federal source for the Coast Guard or any Coast Guard person
• Promote “for profit” business or entities
• Serve as a Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) peer support person
• Perform case management or counseling services, even if professionally trained in these areas
• Serve as a victim advocate or attend victim advocacy training for sexual assault cases