Military service academies must now accommodate cadets with kids

Military service academies are implementing new regulations allowing cadets to continue their education if they give birth or father children while enrolled.


The Department of Defense issued new formal instructions to its military schools to “maintain parental rights of cadets and midshipmen who become biological parents while attending the Service academies,” according to the regulation document.

The shift has been informed by a bipartisan bill known as the Candidates Afforded Dignity, Equality and Training Act, which instructed the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Transportation to protect parents’ rights “consistent with individual and academic responsibilities,” according to Congress.gov. Elements of the CADET Act were later incorporated into The National Defense Authorization Act of December 2021, which required military parental rights reforms.