Navy veteran Brianna Rebecca Brown sought to reenlist in the U.S. Navy, but due to a Department of Defense policy for single parents, she was required to have a parenting plan and guardian for minor children while on deployment or mobilization.
Specifically, the U.S. Navy Recruiter told Brown she was going to need a Single Parent Waiver to reenter the military. Her daughter’s father was listed on the child’s birth certificate, so the Navy required her to have an official document indicating she had the sole authority to make decisions for daughter, even though the father had not been involved in the child’s life.
Attorney Declan Duffy of JALA’s Veterans Services Unit immediately began working on an Affidavit of Diligent Search to locate the father. Duffy determined that a Temporary Order of Concurrent Custody, which could be renewed from time to time, would provide Brown with the parenting plan and decision-making authority being requested by the Navy. Her plan for deployment gave guardianship rights to her parents.
Duffy helped Brown complete the required affidavit and then prepared the Petition for Temporary Concurrent Custody. As the father could not be found by the diligent search, Duffy drafted a request to publish notice of the action, which was granted by the court. Once the required four weeks of publishing had passed, Duffy returned to court with Brown and her parents for a final hearing, in which the court granted the petition.
Brown is now waiting for her waiver to be granted so that she can reenlist.
