Download the form
DA Form 5246-R exists to child development services (cds) report (lra) — that is the short version. Title of record: ARMY CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (CDS) REPORT. The page covers the download, the entries and the disposition, nothing else. Current here: edition July 1989, status not stated, 18 page(s), near 200 fields.
Authority sits in two places. ACSIM owns the form, AR 608-10 says when it is raised and where it goes. Routine cases need neither read in full — the page itself carries the sequence. The entries are completed by their subject or by unit administrative staff working from what that person supplies.
The formats are PDF, XFDL, and the choice comes down to keyboard or pen. Fillable pdf for typing — live fields, tab order, saved entries. Printable pdf for handwriting — same page, no interactive objects, print it blank. Content is identical; only entry method differs.
A standalone reader is the safe choice for fillable work. Browser viewers vary in whether entered data survives the session, and there is no warning when it does not; a one-field save test settles it in seconds. Xfdl means IBM Lotus Forms. The Lotus Forms Viewer opens it; pdf readers and word processors do not.
No charge, no account, no email address. The file is the published document, distributed unaltered.
What the form asks for
- AC_CHK
- AFTER
- AFTER_1
- AFTER_2
- AFTER_3
- AFTER_4
- APCT
- APCT_1
- APFLABOR
- APFOTHER
- APFRMBRS
- APFSPLYS
- APFTRNG
- APF_STFF
- APP_FUND
- APP_FUND_1
- APP_FUND_2
- APP_FUND_3
- APP_FUND_4
- APP_FUND_5
- ARMY
- ARMY_N
- ARMY_Y
- ASPNO
The heading entries carry more weight than the body. Name spelled as in official records, identification number, organisation, date prepared. Retrieval runs on those values, so a transposed digit or a casual spelling costs someone a file search. Fill them before anything else.
Move between fields with tab; the build-time order follows the page and misses nothing. Click check boxes and option buttons, and expect an exclusive group to release the old choice when you set a new one. The trap is field width. Single-line fields do not wrap, so an overlong entry displays complete on screen and prints cut at the margin — put it in remarks or on a continuation instead. Mark inapplicable fields rather than leaving them blank, since an empty box carries no information about whether the question was read.
Sign last. An unsigned form is a draft whatever else is on it, and additional signatures — reviewer, approver, witness — follow printed block order with each signer dating the day they sign, not the day of preparation. Four faults account for most returns: a blank mandatory field, transposed digits in an identification number, day and month reversed in a date, and leftover entries in a working copy reused instead of a fresh blank. Read the form once from the top before releasing it.
Privacy Act statement first, personal entries second. The notice covers who is authorised to collect, why, who else routinely sees it, and whether you must answer. After completion the file carries personal data and is stored and sent under the corresponding safeguards.
The prescribing directive names the destination; office custom does not. Depending on the case that means a specific office, the unit administrative channel, or the personal record. Keep a copy first, because the original does not come back. Retention runs on the applicable records schedule.
Companion documents come from the same series and number scheme. Within the DA series, a shared proponent or a shared directive usually means shared use, and a form cited on the face of another accompanies it. Gather the whole package first — continuation sheets, cover sheets, transmittals.
A stored file goes stale silently. The proponent revises, a new edition date is published, and your copy says nothing about it — so compare the printed date against the edition in force before typing into it again. Completed submissions on an earlier edition are not reopened.
What is distributed here are reproductions of published Department of the Army documents. Independent site, no official standing, no forms of its own. Nothing on the page constitutes legal advice, and acceptance by any office is outside what can be stated. Put questions about entries, requirements or eligibility to ACSIM or your servicing administrative office.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 5246-R?
- ARMY CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (CDS) REPORT
- Which edition is current?
- July 1989
- Who is responsible for this form?
- ACSIM
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL