Active-Duty Air Force Parent / Custody & Family Care Plan Question

Active-Duty Air Force Parent / Family Care Plan Question

Looking for guidance from anyone familiar with Air Force Family Care Plans, JAG, or military family law.

My ex-wife is an active-duty Air Force Captain. We divorced in North Carolina years ago. I am my daughter's biological/legal father and am listed on her birth certificate. To my knowledge, there has never been a custody order granting either parent sole custody.

My ex is currently away on military duty, and my daughter is not with her. Instead, my daughter has been placed with someone else in North Carolina. I recently learned she is attending school in the Charlotte area. I was never informed that she was being moved from Nevada, never consulted about the school enrollment, and I do not know the address where she is living. My daughter also told me her iPad location sharing was intentionally turned off.

I'm trying to understand whether the Air Force Family Care Plan process requires the service member to involve or notify the other legal parent before placing the child with someone else while the service member is away.

My questions are:

• If there is no custody order giving one parent sole custody, should the biological father have been contacted before another caregiver was given responsibility for the child?
• Does the Air Force require consideration of the other legal parent in a Family Care Plan?
• Is contacting her First Sergeant, Commander, or JAG appropriate in this situation?
• Has anyone dealt with a similar situation while an active-duty parent was deployed or otherwise unavailable?

I'm not trying to cause problems for her military career. My only concern is that my daughter is with someone other than her mother, I was never informed, and I want to understand whether Air Force policy was followed and what my rights are as her father.

Thank you for any insight.