Delaware Draft Counseling and Education Service, Inc. Records

The Delaware Draft Counseling and Educational Service (DDCES), was organized in early 1969 with offices in Wilmington and Newark, Delaware. An initial seminar for those interested in draft counselor training was held in November of 1968, and co-sponsored by the Council of Churches of Wilmington and New Castle County (Delaware). The organization was incorporated in Delaware in 1970. It provided men who had been drafted by the Selective Service System with information about the draft and their options within that system. The DDCES also provided information on the draft, individual rights under Selective Service laws and how to file for deferments and alternatives to the draft. When registration for men at 18 years of age became law in 1980, DDCES provided education, counseling, and services about the Selective Service System requirements and how to establish conscientious objection status. DDCES staff co-operated with other local and Philadelphia-area peace organizations such as CCCO, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and Pacem in Terris. DDCES' relationship with Pacem in Terris was sometimes strained over differing tactics and direction. Draft counselor Barbara Kerner lead DDCES through the 1980s and the organization's demise.