Often we think of military men and women as warfighters, trained to engage in combat, follow orders and protect our nation. But the men and women that don the uniform are much more than that. They are fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, daughters and sons; each one is part of a family.

Frequently the focus is solely on the person who took the oath to “protect against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” and military spouses and children do not receive the support they deserve.

This thinking is wrong. It’s not only the duty of Congress to provide the resources our soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors need, but also provide support for their families to ensure their experiences as a military family are safe and comfortable.

Living on base can be a great opportunity to bring military families together and offer resources to military spouses. For many families, living on a military installation can offer a sense of security and comfort. But unfortunately for some families, their experience has been quite the opposite.

According to an investigation by the Associated Press, hundreds of military families have been forgotten and denied justice due to a dangerous loophole in the law.

Military installations are federal property, and therefore, fall under the umbrella of federal law. There is currently no juvenile code under federal law to pursue cases against juveniles who have committed criminal acts unless they are tried as adult.

Consequently, when a juvenile commits a crime against another juvenile on a military installation, there is no path forward to appropriately handle these sensitive cases. For this reason, juvenile-on-juvenile sexual crimes occurring on military installations are going unpunished — even in cases involving a confession.

I first learned of this issue at Fort Hood in late 2015. As a result, my office pushed the military base into a memorandum of understanding with local county prosecutors to set a standard of how these cases would be handled. Those agreements were finalized late last year, but this standard needs to be implemented nationwide.

I introduced the Military Installation Non-Adult Offender Reform (MINOR) Act to ensure each base across the country meets these requirements. The MINOR Act will require the Department of Defense to enter into agreements between every military installation in the United States and their local counties, implementing a standard operating procedure to prevent these cases from slipping through the cracks.

Once there is an agreement with local jurisdictions in place, military installations will have a clear path to refer juvenile justice cases down to local county prosecutors to try the case. This will ensure young victims receive the justice they deserve and young offenders receive appropriate punishment and rehabilitation opportunities.

Based on current statistics, it’s painfully obvious that the current system isn’t working. Military children deserve to be safe, especially while on base, and my legislation will help close this dangerous loophole to ensure our kids are protected.