If you are stationed at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Peterson Space Force Base, or Schriever Space Force Base and going through a divorce, one question almost always comes up: what happens when you get reassigned?
For years, Airmen had few options. A Permanent Change of Station (PCS) order meant packing up and moving, regardless of where your children lived or what your custody agreement said. The Air Force has since changed that. It now formally considers court-ordered child custody arrangements when making assignment decisions. For divorced Airmen in El Paso County, understanding how this policy works — and how it connects to Colorado family law — can make a significant difference in how you structure your parenting agreement.
What the Policy Actually Does
The Department of the Air Force’s Court-Ordered Child Custody Assignment Consideration Program (CCCA) and Court-Ordered Child Custody Deferment Consideration Program (CCCD) allow assignment authorities to factor a service member’s custody order into duty station decisions. Under this policy, an Airman who holds a court-ordered child custody decree for joint or physical custody can apply either to be assigned to a location near their children or to defer an existing assignment that would move them away.
The policy applies to both biological and adoptive parents and covers co-parents who are not married to each other. The Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC) processes applications through the myPers system, and the governing rules are set out in Air Force Instruction 36-2110.
There are eligibility requirements. The general criteria under AFI 36-2110, paragraph 35.4 include holding a court-ordered custody decree naming you as a party with joint or physical custody, and having a youngest child who is under age 17 at the time of application. For assignment consideration specifically (requesting to be stationed near your children), the Airman must typically have at least 41 months on station before applying, with the PCS to follow after at least 48 months on station.
One thing this policy does not do is guarantee anything. The Air Force is explicit: when a requested assignment or deferment is not in the best interest of the Air Force, the assignment will not be made regardless of the custody arrangement. Manning needs come first. But the policy does give the Air Force the flexibility to accommodate families when operationally possible, and that matters.
Why Your Colorado Parenting Order Is the Foundation
The entire CCCA/CCCD program is built around one thing: a valid, court-ordered custody decree. Without one, there is nothing to submit. This is where Colorado family law becomes directly relevant to your military career.
Under Colorado Revised Statutes § 14-10-124, all parenting decisions are governed by the best interests of the child. The statute lays out a detailed set of factors courts must weigh, including each parent’s ability to encourage a relationship with the other parent, the physical proximity of the parties, and the practical considerations of parenting time. For military families, the physical proximity factor often sits at the center of contested custody cases, because PCS orders can move an Airman hundreds or thousands of miles away with relatively little notice.
Getting a well-drafted parenting order matters enormously. A vague or bare-bones custody decree may be technically sufficient to satisfy AFI 36-2110, but it will almost certainly create problems down the road — either when you apply through myPers or when the other parent contests a modification in El Paso County District Court.
The Deployed Parents Act Adds Another Layer
Deployment and reassignment are different situations, but Colorado law addresses both. Colorado adopted the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act (UDPCVA) in 2013, codified at C.R.S. § 14-13.7-101 et seq. The Act protects military parents from losing parental rights simply because they deploy.
Under the UDPCVA, a parent’s past deployment or potential future deployment cannot serve as the sole basis for determining the best interests of the child in a custody proceeding. The Act also provides that deployment does not change the military parent’s legal residence for purposes of custody jurisdiction under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA).
When deployment is imminent, the UDPCVA requires the deploying parent to notify the other parent within 12 days of receiving orders. From there, the parents are expected to negotiate a temporary deployment parenting plan covering contact frequency, communication methods, and who will exercise custody during the deployment. If they cannot agree, either party can file a motion for expedited judicial relief under C.R.S. § 14-13.7-301. Temporary orders issued under the Act expire 35 days after the service member returns, at which point the original custody arrangement resumes.
There is an important limitation: the UDPCVA only applies to a deployment defined as a mobilization or movement of 90 days to 18 months to a location where family members are not authorized. A field exercise shorter than 90 days or a training course where families can collocate does not trigger the Act’s protections.
What Happens When the Air Force and a Colorado Court Are Both Involved
This is where things get complicated for Airmen in El Paso County. You may have a valid custody order from a Colorado court, an AFPC decision about your duty station, and a co-parent who disagrees with all of it. These systems do not talk to each other, and neither defers to the other.
Colorado courts operate under C.R.S. § 14-10-124, which measures every parenting decision against the child’s best interests. The Air Force operates under its own administrative framework and its mission requirements. When they conflict, an Airman can end up caught between a court order telling them to remain in Colorado Springs and PCS orders telling them to report to a base in another state.
A few practical points on this:
First, Colorado courts cannot order the Air Force to assign you to a particular duty station. The military’s assignment authority is federal and operates outside state court jurisdiction.
Second, a PCS that takes you out of state is a significant event under Colorado law. If you are the primary residential parent and you intend to relocate with your children, you are subject to the relocation provisions of C.R.S. § 14-10-129, which requires you to provide proper notice to the other parent and, if contested, obtain court approval. If you are the non-primary parent and your co-parent seeks to move with the children following your reassignment, that triggers the same analysis.
Third, if you successfully obtain a CCCA or CCCD assignment through the Air Force, that does not modify your existing custody order. It simply affects where you are stationed. The custody order remains in place and continues to govern your parenting time.
Building a Parenting Plan That Holds Up
For Airmen going through divorce in Colorado Springs, the goal should be a parenting plan detailed enough to serve two purposes at once: satisfying Colorado’s best-interests standards under § 14-10-124 and meeting the eligibility requirements for the Air Force’s custody assignment programs.
A strong military parenting plan will typically address how parenting time adjusts during deployments, who exercises custodial responsibility if both parents are deployed simultaneously, how virtual communication between parent and child is handled during separations, how future reassignments are managed procedurally, and what constitutes adequate notice before a relocation is proposed.
El Paso County judges are generally experienced with the practical realities of military service, and Colorado courts are not permitted under C.R.S. § 14-10-124 to use a parent’s military service against them as the sole basis for custody decisions. But experienced does not mean automatic. A well-prepared parenting plan with clear provisions for military-specific contingencies is still far better than leaving those issues to be resolved in post-decree litigation.
The Bottom Line for Airmen Stationed in Colorado Springs
The Air Force’s CCCA and CCCD programs represent a meaningful shift in how the service treats the intersection of military service and parenthood. But the program is built on the foundation of your Colorado custody order, and it does not replace the need for thoughtful legal planning at the time of divorce.
If you are an Airman going through a divorce in El Paso County, the parenting agreement you reach now will affect not just your relationship with your children, but your ability to use every tool the Air Force makes available to keep your family together. Getting it right the first time matters.
At Boal Law Firm, PC, we represent service members and their families in divorce and custody matters in El Paso County and the surrounding Front Range area. Call us at (719) 203-6339 to schedule a consultation.