US Navy Policy - Single Care Plans
Service members with children, who are minors, are required to have a family care plan. A family care plan designates who will take care of a service members' children while the service member is deployed. However, it is very important that service members with children know that a family care plan has no legal authority outside of the military, and this can be a big problem if you deploy and leave your child with anyone other than the child's other biological parent. If you and the other biological parent are fighting over custody of the child, a family care plan alone will not prevent the other parent from taking the child while you are deployed.
The most important thing to remember is that service members who are single parents need to have an agreement or court order that discusses what happens to the child when the service member is deployed. To read more on this topic click here.
