No. Children do not count as cohabitants on the SF-86 merely because they live in your home. The form places children, including adopted or foster children, and stepchildren in its relatives section. Its cohabitant question concerns a different relationship: a person living with you in a spouse-like bond rather than for convenience.

Do children count as cohabitants on SF-86?

No. The form treats “child,” including an adopted or foster child, and “stepchild” as relative types. DCSA’s completion guidance also tells applicants not to list family members or relatives as cohabitants.

The confusion usually starts with ordinary speech. People use “cohabitant” to mean anyone sharing a house, while the questionnaire uses the term for a specific relationship. A child can reside with you and still belong in the relatives category because the nature of the relationship, not the shared street address, controls the entry.

Use the categories printed in the questionnaire. The official SF-86 puts marital and cohabitant information in Section 17 and relatives in Section 18. That structure prevents “person in my household” from becoming an unofficial catchall.

This is a form-completion distinction, not a judgment about the closeness or importance of either relationship. A dependent child, an independent adult child, a roommate, and an unmarried partner may all share one home, yet the form can ask for each person under a different rule.

Why is a household member broader than a cohabitant?

A household member is simply someone who lives in the household. The SF-86’s cohabitant question is narrower. It asks about a current shared residence plus bonds of affection, obligation, or other commitment, and contrasts that relationship with living together for convenience.

That contrast matters. A roommate who splits rent, an aging parent in your spare bedroom, a sibling between apartments, and your child can all be household members without becoming cohabitants for this question. An unmarried partner you live with may meet the cohabitant description; the form’s test is residence plus bonds of affection, obligation, or other commitment.

The form excludes a spouse or legally recognized civil-union or domestic partner from the cohabitant question; those relationships are entered separately. DCSA describes the remaining test as spouse-like.

The categories in the table are likely, not certain: an unusual legal or family arrangement can change the entry, and the office that initiated your questionnaire can give instructions for the version of the electronic form you are completing.

What is the spouse-like relationship test in Section 17?

The question asks whether you presently reside with someone, other than a spouse or legally recognized partner, with whom you share bonds of affection, obligation, or other commitment. It expressly distinguishes that person from a convenience-based roommate.

Read all parts together. Present residence is required by the wording, so a dating partner who lives elsewhere is not automatically a cohabitant under this item. A shared residence is also not enough by itself; the stated bonds distinguish the relationship from an ordinary housing arrangement.

No single household fact in the published wording decides the question. Sharing a lease, utilities, caregiving, expenses, or a bedroom may help describe the arrangement, but the form does not publish a mechanical score based on those details. Answer from the actual relationship, not from the label that feels least intrusive.

The DCSA applicant guide tells applicants not to enter roommates or other household members unless they meet the spouse-like criteria. It separately says a spouse or legally recognized partner belongs in the appropriate relationship entry, not as a cohabitant.

Where do children and stepchildren belong?

They belong in Section 18, the relatives section. The form names a child, including an adopted or foster child, and a stepchild. DCSA likewise directs applicants to include biological, foster or adopted children and stepchildren among the required relatives.

Follow the prompts for the child’s circumstances. The questionnaire branches based on matters such as citizenship, whether the relative is living, and address information. Those follow-up fields do not change the basic relationship category.

For a broader field-by-field treatment, the SF-86 Section 18 relatives overview explains how the relative entry works. Keep that reporting task separate from choosing a verifier; the form restricts relatives in some verifier fields even though it requires those same people in the relatives section.

That distinction is easy to miss. Being required as a relative does not make your child eligible to serve as a residence or personal reference. The rules for each field control, as the guidance on relatives as SF-86 references and verifiers illustrates.

Does an adult child living at home change categories?

No category change appears in the form merely because a child is an adult or lives with you. Section 18 uses the relationship label “child” without attaching a minor-only age limit, and DCSA places children among relatives rather than cohabitants.

Do not reclassify an adult son, daughter, adopted child, foster child, or stepchild as a cohabitant just because the person contributes to rent, shares chores, or has remained at home for many years. Those facts may describe the household, but they do not erase the family relationship.

Age can still affect ordinary details you gather. An adult child may have independent addresses, citizenship documents, or contact information that should be entered accurately where requested. The important move is to answer the actual relative prompts rather than inventing a new relationship label.

If an adult in your household has more than one genuine legal or family relationship to you, stop before forcing the entry. Write down the facts in neutral terms and ask the initiating office which category and comment field it wants used.

How should you classify a child’s other parent?

Classify that adult by the adult’s relationship to you, not simply by the fact that you share a child. A current spouse or legally recognized partner has one path. A person who currently lives with you in the described spouse-like relationship may have another.

A co-parent who lives elsewhere does not satisfy the current shared-residence language in the cohabitant item. A co-parent who shares housing only for childcare logistics may also present a different fact pattern from an unmarried partner sharing bonds of affection, obligation, or commitment. The form asks about the relationship as it actually exists.

A foreign connection does not replace the relationship category either. If another question asks about foreign citizenship, support, property, or contact, answer that question on its own terms. The explanation of close and continuing foreign contact on the SF-86 addresses a separate reporting analysis.

Do not guess when shared custody, separation, an unrecognized partnership, guardianship, or another arrangement makes the classification unclear. The GSA’s current SF-86 page identifies the official form, while your sponsor can address how its electronic workflow presents the fields.

Should the same person be entered twice?

Not just to be safe. Enter a person in every place where a prompt genuinely requires that person, but do not duplicate a child as a cohabitant when the relationship does not meet the cohabitant definition.

Some people properly appear in more than one part of the questionnaire because different questions request different facts. That is not the same as relabeling one relationship. For example, a relative may be relevant to a separate foreign-activity question while remaining a relative in Section 18.

Use names, dates, and relationship descriptions consistently. If the electronic form supplies a comment field, use it to explain an unusual fact pattern rather than changing a category to make the person fit. Avoid speculative explanations; state who lives where, the legal or family relationship, and the relevant current circumstances.

The OPM standard-forms listing identifies the governmentwide SF-86. Still, the form itself directs applicants with questions to the office that provided it, which is the right route for a case-specific classification.

Who should resolve an unusual family arrangement?

Ask the office that initiated the questionnaire. DCSA directs military applicants to their command security officer, federal civilian applicants to the agency security or HR representative, and DoD contractor applicants to their company FSO.

Prepare a short factual description before asking: who shares the residence, each person’s relationship to you, whether any relationship is legally recognized, and whether the arrangement is current. This lets the official answer the classification question without sorting through an emotional family history.

Keep a note of the instruction you receive and where you placed the information. Do not treat a forum answer about someone else’s household as authority for yours. Form wording and sponsor direction are stronger guides.

Before submission, compare the relationship entries with the relatives entries and remove only genuine misclassification, not required disclosure. List each child under the applicable child or stepchild category, then send any unresolved adult relationship to your sponsor for direction.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is everyone who lives with me a cohabitant on the SF-86?

No. The cohabitant item describes a current shared residence with spouse-like bonds and contrasts that relationship with living together for convenience. Children, other relatives, and ordinary roommates are not cohabitants merely because they share your address.

Do I list my biological, adopted, or foster child in Section 18?

Yes. The form’s child category expressly includes adopted and foster children, and DCSA’s guidance includes biological, foster or adopted children among the required relatives.

Is my stepchild a cohabitant if we live together?

No. The form expressly identifies stepchild as a relative type. A shared home does not change that relationship into the spouse-like relationship described by the cohabitant question.

Does my adult child become a cohabitant after turning adult?

No automatic change appears in the form. Its child category does not state a minor-only limit, and DCSA tells applicants not to list family members or relatives as cohabitants.

What if I cannot tell whether another adult meets the cohabitant definition?

Describe the current residence, legal status, and relationship accurately to the office that initiated your questionnaire. Follow that office’s direction and use an available comment field to clarify an unusual arrangement.