‘This can’t keep happening’: How divorced military spouses get trapped in foreign countries

Christina Fuller is an American former military spouse living without legal residency in southern Spain, where a custody fight has kept her and her son for years. When her family arrived near the Strait of Gibraltar on US military orders, her son was two. Now, he’s nearly 10.

Fuller’s marriage to a US Navy sailor assigned to a guided-missile destroyer at Naval Station Rota fell apart soon after the family arrived in 2019.

When her husband filed for divorce in 2021, a Spanish court barred either parent from taking their child out of the country without the other’s permission. The next year, the Navy ordered her husband back to the US as the divorce was finalized and Fuller appealed a Spanish custody order.

She eventually won full physical custody and rights similar to legal custody in the US, but she still had to get permission from a judge or her now ex-husband to move their son. By then her son’s American passport had also expired, leaving them stuck in Spain.

Fuller says she supports her family by scrapping together an income from this odd job and that – she’s a “buscavida,” she says, what the Spanish call a hustler.

“I never came to Spain intending to make it my permanent home,” Fuller told CNN. “I don’t want to feel like a prisoner in another country any more simply because I followed military orders overseas.”

When a marriage falls apart, military spouses living overseas can find themselves stranded in foreign countries and bound by foreign custody judgments in their courts — even when those involved are American citizens who moved abroad on US orders. Spouses already made financially vulnerable by years of relocations can be left navigating unfamiliar courts, hiring lawyers in two countries and fighting simply to bring their children home.

Spouses caught in foreign courts have been largely invisible to almost everyone in military circles, including each other. But in August the issue burst into public view when the wife of a Marine Corps officer went viral with an online plea, warning that she and her children could be trapped indefinitely in Germany.

Jamie Lenio said her marriage was ending partly because her husband had an affair with a superior officer, a one-star general — a claim substantiated by a US Africa Command inspector general report obtained by CNN.

Within 48 hours, the video had drawn nearly 500,000 views, more than 30,000 likes and 2,300 comments.

Spouses facing similar circumstances contacted Lenio, leading to an informal network of women, and at least one man, who shared their stories, including on social media, in the hope they, too, can get some help.

Soon after, the military ordered Lenio’s husband to return to the US, paving the way for Lenio and her kids to return as well, before a German court could take up the family’s case. Earlier this month, Lenio arrived in Southern California with her children.

CNN spoke to more than a dozen current or former spouses of active-duty service members, Defense Department employees or US government contractors who said they were living overseas against their wishes with their children — or had returned to the United States without them — after their marriages ended. All but one of the spouses CNN spoke to were women.

They all described debilitating financial hardship as they fought their legal battles overseas. Many racked up heavy debt, ruined their credit or relied on food banks just to feed their children. Multiple spouses said they skipped meals to get by.

“It’s heartbreaking, but it’s unfortunately the reality,” said Gilbert “Joey” Comley, a retired Army judge advocate who has represented service members and veterans in custody cases involving foreign courts. “Someone always has to have jurisdiction over child custody.”

Once a child becomes integrated into daily life abroad, courts may treat that country as the child’s “habitual residence” under the 1980 Hague Convention on international child abduction and the US law implementing it.

Legally, that can outweigh citizenship or the fact that the family moved only because of military employment, Comley said.

CNN spoke to military spouses based in Germany, Spain, the UK and Japan, all of whom expressed surprise at having an obscure, international treaty play a role in child custody during and after a divorce. Some said they were blindsided by the power of the foreign court — no matter the country they were in. And they all described incorrect or conflicting guidance from US military officials.

Eduardo Briones/Europa Press/Getty Images/File

Ahead of deployments or overseas tours, military families often contemplate potential life-changing events, including the death of a service member or illness of a spouse in a structured Family Contingency Plan.

A number of spouses said they wished the military had armed their families with more information so they could incorporate an agreement on how they would approach custody in the event of a divorce overseas.

In response to questions for this story, individual service branches initially directed CNN to the Pentagon for information about the guidance families receive from the military when navigating divorce and child custody in foreign courts. A Pentagon spokesperson then directed CNN back to the individual service branches before highlighting a series of webpages on Military OneSource, a DOD-funded website for military personnel and families. None of the links provide direct support for navigating divorce or child custody in foreign legal systems, a reflection of the dearth of official information available to families before they may be educating themselves in the middle of a crisis.

The Air Force flagged an article that mentioned military divorce overseas, but only that it “can be more complicated than if the couple filed within a state. A US court may not recognize a divorce filed overseas, so it’s best to file in the United States.” It briefly addressed physical property but not child custody.

The Navy, like other service branches, said it doesn’t track how many families are in divorce or child custody proceedings in foreign courts but that it does give them briefings before they go overseas to “ensure service members and their dependents clearly understand host-nation jurisdiction, legal protections, and administrative responsibilities while serving abroad.”

Spokespeople for the Marine Corps and the Air Force outlined a number of resources available to military families, including legal-assistance services but with a significant caveat: they would need a private local lawyer to represent them in court.

Across the cases CNN reviewed, a common pattern emerged: The higher-earning partner had an incentive to remain overseas — whether as a service member nearing retirement and eyeing a military contracting job, or as a civilian employee or contractor able to extend an at times lucrative posting long after the marriage ended. Those employment opportunities provide legal status to work in host countries.

The accompanying spouses who were stranded abroad — or felt forced to leave without their children — uniformly described custody proceedings that favored the higher-earning partner, who could afford stronger legal representation and argue that a steadier income left them better positioned to provide for the children.

Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images/File

“It gets expensive,” Comley explained, because finding a fair resolution requires retaining a lawyer in the US and another in the foreign country.

For many military spouses, financial independence is elusive , even more so overseas where their job opportunities are further limited by visa restrictions on where they can work. Moving every two to three years makes finding a job or maintaining a career difficult as they contort their lives around their spouse’s military service demands.

Though half of active-duty spouses have attained at least a bachelor’s degree, the military spouse unemployment rate is about four times higher and they have a median income 42% lower than civilian spouses, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University.

Overseas, employment obstacles multiply as a spouse’s legal status extends through their military-connected partner. Once they lose that protection, they have to find an alternate justification for remaining and working in the country while they fight for custodial rights, a costly endeavor.

Military spouses divorcing in foreign courts can also lose out on a major marital asset: US military retirement benefits. Foreign courts may decide divorce and custody but generally do not have jurisdiction to divide those benefits as a US court can, leaving spouses little recourse if the service member refuses to share them voluntarily.

The legal fight often unfolds as an accompanying spouse loses practical support that made overseas life possible: base entry access to affordable shopping, post-office boxes and access to bank accounts or cars tied to the sponsoring spouse. Several CNN spoke with accrued significant credit card debt; one documented relying on a food bank and military-provided thrift-store vouchers.

Jose ‘Trey’ Gonzalez’s marriage deteriorated in 2023, soon after his family moved to Germany for his wife’s work with a Defense Department contractor. While a German court considered custody of their now-5-year-old son, Gonzalez’s immigration status linked to his wife expired and he left Germany. He saw his son briefly during a 2024 court hearing and visit in Stuttgart but says he has not seen him since.

“I felt like there had to be some kind of workaround because we’re all American,” Gonzalez told CNN from Florida.

“It’s been terrible. It’s been a nightmare every day. As long as the Germans have jurisdiction I have zero hope.”

In England, Air Force spouse Brandylyn Cohea is torn between staying or going in the wake of her husband filing for a divorce in the United Kingdom.

She fears being deported without her teenage son if she loses her status to work and live in the country. Meanwhile, she worries a court could rule unfavorably if she leaves. The Air Force briefly authorized her and her son to return to the US but they would have had to leave without their two beloved golden retrievers, who came from the US.

She’s working up to 55 hours a week while parenting alone, she says, receiving $1300 in child and spousal support per month.

“It’s really difficult to watch” other families leave, she says, choking up, “because I want to go home.”

Since Lenio’s story gained national attention, military spouses facing divorce have increasingly seen public pressure as the only way to force action.

A number have taken their stories public, some appearing in social media videos. Lenio’s viral plea in August quickly reached the highest levels of the Navy Department.

Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, who oversees the Marine Corps and was recently nominated to permanently fill the role by President Donald Trump, responded publicly: “We hear you loud and clear. You and your family will be home soon.”

The next month, around the time of Cao’s nomination, the Marine Corps issued Lenio’s husband new orders, and she returned to the US with her children.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Lenio told CNN the video got her home. The Marine Corps said the move was underway before she went public, telling CNN it had already concluded the situation “would be best resolved in the US.”

But in short order, the Marine Corps and Navy made similar determinations in the cases of other families.

Several sources – spouses, service members and former military officials familiar with personnel decisions – said Lenio’s video was a clear catalyst.

During CNN’s reporting, another Marine Corps family facing divorce in Germany also received orders allowing them to return to the US after CNN asked the Pentagon about their situation.

Corina Acevedo, mother of four and the wife of a senior enlisted Marine, said her case began moving only after Lenio’s video. Earlier, a German court denied her the authority necessary to return to the US with her children. The Marine Corps would not discuss her case, but said every family’s circumstances and timeline are different.

Foreign family court orders can also trump certain decisions by the US military.

Ashlee Gamble’s marriage to a Navy sailor fell apart in the summer of 2025 while the couple were living near Kaiserslautern, Germany with their two children. A German court spelled out a custody arrangement after Gamble filed, ultimately unsuccessfully, for the right to determine where her children would reside.

“You’re sucked into the German court system. And all of it is in German,” she said.

Last year, over her husband’s objections, the military granted a request for Gamble to return to the US with both children, but the German court would allow her to leave only with her eldest child. Her young son would remain in Germany with her husband.

Stars and Stripes first reported on the family earlier this month. Two days later, Gamble’s Navy-appointed legal advisor let her know the Navy had released orders to move her husband and family back to the US, more than a year after a military-provided clinical social worker first recommended Gamble return with the two children.

Gamble’s husband says the orders have upended his family’s lives in the middle of his children’s school year, and he questioned why the Navy would intervene in a private family matter.

“I think that civil matters should be handled by the civil courts and not have the military involved,” he told CNN, outlining what he sees as advantages for military spouses in the German court system.

“It’s going to cost them more in the US because here in Germany, if they can’t get a job, they’re provided access to a free lawyer for a civil case. Where in the US are you going to get a free divorce lawyer?”

But Gamble says her court-appointed lawyer is managing many cases besides hers and she is relieved to be leaving Germany and heading back to the US.

“I feel like military families have no business being in German courts unless someone broke a law. But when it comes to custody, this can’t keep happening.”

Even so, the German court order will cross the Atlantic with the family, dictating their custody arrangement unless or until the German court relinquishes jurisdiction.

Without a treaty change or a Pentagon-wide policy, commands and contractors retain broad discretion over whether a family can return home to pursue divorce and custody in an American court. Families described officials who were ill-informed or unwilling to intervene and others who were supportive and responsive but still unable to force a resolution once a foreign court became involved.

Efforts to bring attention to this specific issue have coincided with a broad new policy focus on military family struggles amid the Iran War and the early days of Trump’s Military Spouse Commission, a panel led by Jennifer Hegseth, wife of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The commission’s membership includes almost all of the spouses of the military’s top brass. The commission is tasked with, among other things, developing “policy recommendations to address … deployment-related support” and “improve the quality of life for military spouses while supporting the highest standard of military readiness,” according to the White House.

Christina Fuller watched military interventions for other families from Spain.

“When I saw Jamie’s story come out and I saw the Secretary of the Navy saying ‘not on my watch,’ I thought, ‘OK, sir, let’s see what’s going to happen on your watch,’ because this has been happening for a long time,” she said.

Her ex-husband returned to Spain on military orders last year, she says, and now has brief regular visits and calls with their son.

However, Fuller is no longer a military dependent, limiting the Navy’s ability to resolve her case through new orders or an early return program. Her son remains a military dependent, though Fuller says he was unable to receive on-base health care for the years his father was in Hawaii.

An email Fuller provided from the naval hospital in Rota showed records incorrectly identifying the child as living in Hawaii with his father, who told CNN he included his son on his military orders.

He said it has been “extremely difficult” being separated from his son and “navigating different legal systems and military obligations presents significant challenges.”

Fuller has sought help from three congressional offices and the US consulate, but says she has been unable to obtain a US passport for her son without his father’s consent.

While she still wants to return to the US, for now she is building a life for her children: play dates, basketball practice, dance classes and birthday parties. Her son now has an American half-brother, and Fuller has learned Spanish while studying European law and the Hague Convention as she works to provide other families information on social media.

“Even if it’s too late to give me those years back, it is not too late to make sure somebody else doesn’t lose theirs.”

克里斯蒂娜·富勒是一位美国前军属，目前居住在西班牙南部，没有合法居留权。一场监护权争夺战让她和儿子在那里生活了多年。当年，她一家奉美国军方命令抵达直布罗陀海峡附近时，儿子只有两岁。如今，他已快十岁了。

富勒与一名被派往罗塔海军基地导弹驱逐舰的美国海军水兵的婚姻在 2019 年一家人抵达后不久便破裂了。

2021年，当她的丈夫提出离婚时，西班牙法院禁止父母任何一方未经另一方许可将孩子带出境。次年，随着离婚最终生效，海军命令她的丈夫返回美国，而富勒则对西班牙的监护权裁决提出上诉。

她最终获得了儿子的完全抚养权和与美国法定监护权类似的权利，但她仍然需要获得法官或她前夫的许可才能带儿子搬家。那时，她儿子的美国护照也已经过期，他们一家人只能滞留在西班牙。

富勒说，她靠打零工挣钱养家糊口——她说，她是个“buscavida”，西班牙语里就是“hustler”（打工者）的意思。

富勒告诉CNN：“我来西班牙的时候从未想过要把它作为我的永久住所。我不想仅仅因为奉命出国服役就感觉自己像个囚徒一样被困在另一个国家。”

当婚姻破裂时，居住在海外的军人配偶可能会发现自己身陷囹圄，不得不受制于本国法院的监护权判决——即便当事人是美国公民，奉命移居海外。多年辗转各地已令配偶经济拮据，如今又要面对陌生的法庭，在两国聘请律师，竭尽全力争取子女回家。

在军界，包括军人彼此之间在内，被卷入外国法庭的配偶们一直鲜为人知。但今年8月，一位海军陆战队军官的妻子在网上发布了一则求助信息，警告说她和她的孩子可能无限期地被困在德国，此事迅速引起公众关注。

杰米·莱尼奥表示，她的婚姻破裂的部分原因是她的丈夫与一名上级军官（一名准将）有染——美国非洲司令部监察长报告证实了这一说法，该报告已被 CNN 获取。

48 小时内，该视频获得了近 50 万次观看、超过 3 万个赞和 2300 条评论。

面临类似情况的配偶联系了莱尼奥，由此形成了一个由女性（以及至少一名男性）组成的非正式网络，她们分享自己的故事，包括在社交媒体上分享，希望她们也能得到一些帮助。

不久之后，军方命令莱尼奥的丈夫返回美国，这为莱尼奥和她的孩子们也返回德国铺平了道路，赶在德国法院受理此案之前。本月初，莱尼奥带着孩子们抵达南加州。

CNN采访了十几位现役军人、国防部雇员或美国政府承包商的现任或前任配偶，她们表示，婚姻结束后，她们违背自己的意愿带着孩子生活在海外，或者独自返回美国。除一人外，所有接受CNN采访的配偶均为女性。

他们都描述了在海外打官司期间所面临的严重经济困境。许多人背负了沉重的债务，信用记录受损，甚至不得不依靠食物银行才能勉强养活孩子。多位配偶表示，他们为了维持生计，不得不节衣缩食。

“这令人心碎，但不幸的是，这就是现实，”吉尔伯特·“乔伊”·康利说道，他是一位退休的陆军法官，曾代理过涉及外国法院的现役军人和退伍军人的监护权案件。“总得有人对子女监护权拥有管辖权。”

一旦儿童融入国外的日常生活，法院可能会根据 1980 年《海牙国际儿童拐骗公约》和美国实施该公约的法律，将该国视为该儿童的“惯常居住地”。

科姆利说，从法律角度来看，这可以凌驾于公民身份或该家庭仅仅因为军事工作而搬迁这一事实之上。

CNN采访了驻扎在德国、西班牙、英国和日本的军属，她们都对一项鲜为人知的国际条约在离婚期间及离婚后子女监护权问题上发挥作用感到惊讶。一些人表示，无论身处哪个国家，外国法院的权力都令她们措手不及。她们还提到，美国军方官员提供的指导要么不正确，要么相互矛盾。

Eduardo Briones/Europa Press/Getty Images/文件

在部署或海外服役之前，军人家庭通常会制定结构化的家庭应急计划，考虑可能发生的改变人生的事件，包括军人去世或配偶生病等情况。

一些配偶表示，他们希望军方能向他们的家人提供更多信息，以便他们能够就海外离婚时如何处理子女监护权问题达成协议。

针对本文的提问，各军种最初都建议CNN联系五角大楼，询问军方在外国法院处理离婚和子女监护权问题时为军属提供的指导。随后，五角大楼发言人又将CNN转回各军种，并重点介绍了国防部资助的面向军人及其家属的网站“军人一站式服务”（Military OneSource）上的一系列网页。然而，这些链接均未提供在外国法律体系下处理离婚或子女监护权问题的直接指导，这反映出，在危机发生之前，军属往往难以获得官方信息，只能在危机之中自行摸索。

空军对一篇提及海外军人离婚的文章提出了批评，但仅指出“海外离婚可能比夫妻双方在本州境内离婚更为复杂。美国法院可能不承认在海外提交的离婚申请，因此最好在美国境内提交。”文章简要提及了财产分割问题，但未涉及子女监护权。

海军和其他军种一样表示，他们不追踪有多少家庭在外国法院进行离婚或子女监护权诉讼，但他们会在军人出国前向他们进行简报，以“确保军人及其家属清楚地了解驻在国的管辖权、法律保护和在国外服役期间的行政责任”。

海军陆战队和空军的发言人概述了军属可获得的多项资源，包括法律援助服务，但有一个重要的前提条件：他们需要聘请当地的私人律师在法庭上代表他们。

在CNN审查的案例中，一个共同的模式浮现出来：收入较高的一方有动机留在海外——无论是即将退役的军人，希望获得军事承包商的工作机会，还是能够延长婚姻关系结束后长期任职的文职人员或承包商，这些工作有时收入颇丰。这些就业机会能够提供在所在国合法工作的身份。

那些滞留在国外的配偶，或者被迫离开而无法与子女团聚的配偶，都一致表示监护权诉讼有利于收入较高的一方，因为他们可以负担得起更强大的法律代理，并辩称更稳定的收入使他们更有能力照顾孩子。

Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images/文件

“这会花费很多钱，”康利解释说，因为要找到公平的解决方案，需要在美国聘请一名律师，在外国聘请另一名律师。

对许多军属来说，经济独立遥不可及，尤其是在海外，签证限制进一步限制了他们的就业机会。每两三年就要搬家，这使得他们难以找到工作或维持事业，因为他们不得不为了配偶的服役需求而调整自己的生活。

根据雪城大学 D'Aniello 退伍军人和军属研究所对美国人口普查局数据的分析，虽然一半的现役军人配偶至少获得了学士学位，但军人配偶的失业率大约是平民配偶的四倍，而且他们的收入中位数比平民配偶低 42%。

在海外，由于配偶的法律身份是通过其军属关系延续的，就业障碍会成倍增加。一旦失去这种保护，他们就必须找到留在该国工作的其他理由，同时还要争取子女监护权，这是一项代价高昂的工作。

在外国法院办理离婚的军人配偶可能还会失去一项重要的婚姻财产：美国军人退休福利。外国法院可以裁决离婚和子女监护权，但通常没有像美国法院那样分割这些福利的管辖权，因此，如果军人拒绝自愿分割，配偶几乎没有办法维权。

法律纠纷往往发生在随行配偶失去维持海外生活所需的实际支持之后：例如基地准入便利、价格合理的购物场所、邮政信箱以及与担保配偶关联的银行账户或车辆。CNN采访的多位受访者都背负了巨额信用卡债务；其中一位甚至表示自己依靠食物银行和军队提供的二手商店代金券度日。

2023年，何塞·“特雷”·冈萨雷斯的婚姻开始恶化。此前不久，他一家搬到德国，因为他妻子在一家国防部承包商工作。在德国法院审理他们当时5岁儿子的监护权案件期间，冈萨雷斯与妻子相关的移民身份到期，他离开了德国。2024年，他在斯图加特的一次法庭听证会和探视中短暂地见到了儿子，但他说此后就再也没见过他。

“我觉得肯定有某种变通办法，因为我们都是美国人，”冈萨雷斯在佛罗里达州接受 CNN 采访时说道。

“情况糟透了。每天都像噩梦一样。只要德国人还拥有管辖权，我就一点希望都没有。”

在英国，空军家属布兰迪琳·科希亚 (Brandylyn Cohea) 在丈夫提出离婚后，陷入了去留的两难境地。

她担心，如果失去在美工作和居住的身份，她将被遣返，而她十几岁的儿子也将无法同行。与此同时，她也担心如果离开美国，法院可能会做出对她不利的判决。空军曾短暂批准她和儿子返回美国，但他们将不得不与两只心爱的金毛犬分离，这两只金毛犬是从美国带来的。

她说，她每周工作多达 55 小时，同时还要独自抚养孩子，每月领取 1300 美元的子女和配偶赡养费。

“看着其他家庭离开真的很难受，”她哽咽着说，“因为我也想回家。”

自从莱尼奥的故事引起全国关注以来，面临离婚的军人配偶越来越认为，公众压力是迫使对方采取行动的唯一途径。

许多人公开了自己的遭遇，其中一些人还出现在社交媒体视频中。莱尼奥8月份发布的求助信息迅速走红网络，并很快传到了海军部的最高层。

代理海军部长洪曹负责监管海军陆战队，他最近被唐纳德·特朗普总统提名为正式海军部长。洪曹公开回应说：“我们听到了你们的声音。你和你的家人很快就会回家。”

次月，大约在曹被提名前后，海军陆战队向莱尼奥的丈夫下达了新的命令，她带着孩子返回了美国。

安娜·莫尼梅克/盖蒂图片社

莱尼奥告诉CNN，正是这段视频让她得以回家。海军陆战队表示，在她公开此事之前，撤离行动就已经在进行中，并告诉CNN，他们此前已认定这种情况“在美国境内解决最为妥当”。

但很快，海军陆战队和海军在其他家庭的案例中也做出了类似的决定。

多位消息人士——包括配偶、现役军人和熟悉人事决策的前军方官员——表示，莱尼奥的视频显然是一个催化剂。

在 CNN 进行报道期间，另一户在德国面临离婚的海军陆战队家庭在 CNN 就其情况询问五角大楼后，也收到了允许他们返回美国的命令。

科琳娜·阿塞维多是四个孩子的母亲，也是一名海军陆战队高级士官的妻子。她说，莱尼奥的视频发布后，她的案子才开始有了进展。此前，德国一家法院拒绝了她带着孩子返回美国的申请。海军陆战队拒绝就她的案件置评，但表示每个家庭的情况和时间线都不一样。

外国家庭法院的命令也可以凌驾于美国军方的某些决定之上。

2025年夏天，阿什莉·甘布尔与一名海军水兵的婚姻破裂，当时他们和两个孩子居住在德国凯泽斯劳滕附近。甘布尔曾申请决定孩子居住地的权利，但最终未能成功。之后，德国法院制定了监护权安排。

“你会被卷入德国的司法系统。而且所有程序都是用德语进行的，”她说。

去年，尽管丈夫反对，军方还是批准了甘布尔带着两个孩子返回美国的请求，但德国法院只允许她带着长子离开。她的小儿子则留在德国和丈夫一起生活。

《星条旗报》本月初率先报道了这家人的情况。两天后，甘布尔的海军指定法律顾问告知她，海军已下令将她的丈夫和家人接回美国。而就在一年多前，一名军方提供的临床社工首次建议甘布尔带着两个孩子返回美国。

甘布尔的丈夫表示，这些命令打乱了他家人的生活，而此时正值孩子们的学年，他质疑海军为什么要干预私人家庭事务。

“我认为民事案件应该由民事法庭处理，不应该让军队介入，”他告诉 CNN，并概述了他认为德国法院系统对军人配偶的优势。

“在美国，他们的花费会更高，因为在德国，如果他们找不到工作，可以免费获得民事诉讼律师。在美国，你上哪儿去找免费的离婚律师呢？”

但甘布尔表示，她的法院指定律师除了处理她的案件外，还要处理很多其他案件，她很高兴能够离开德国返回美国。

“我觉得除非有人违法，否则军属不应该出现在德国法庭上。但涉及到监护权问题，这种情况不能再发生了。”

即便如此，德国法院的判决仍将随这个家庭跨越大西洋，规定他们的监护权安排，除非德国法院放弃管辖权。

如果没有条约修改或五角大楼制定统一政策，各级指挥机构和承包商在家庭是否能够返回美国法院寻求离婚和子女监护权方面拥有很大的自由裁量权。一些家庭反映，部分官员对情况不了解或不愿介入，而另一些官员虽然支持并积极回应，但一旦外国法院介入，仍然无力促成解决方案。

为引起人们对这一具体问题的关注，政府出台了一项新的政策，重点关注伊朗战争期间军人家庭面临的困境，同时特朗普的军人配偶委员会也成立了，该委员会由国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯的妻子詹妮弗·赫格塞斯领导。

该委员会成员几乎包括所有军方高级将领的配偶。据白宫称，该委员会的任务之一是制定“政策建议，以解决……与部署相关的支持问题”，并“在支持最高军事战备标准的同时，提高军属的生活质量”。

克里斯蒂娜·富勒从西班牙为其他家庭观看军事干预行动。

“当我看到杰米的故事曝光，看到海军部长说‘在我任内绝不会发生’时，我想，‘好吧，先生，让我们看看在您任内会发生什么’，因为这种情况已经持续很久了，”她说。

她说，她的前夫去年奉命返回西班牙，现在会定期短暂探望他们的儿子并和他通电话。

然而，富勒已不再是军属，这限制了海军通过新的命令或提前返乡计划来解决她个案的能力。她的儿子仍然是军属，但富勒表示，在他父亲驻扎夏威夷的那些年里，他无法享受基地内的医疗保健服务。

富勒提供的一封来自罗塔海军医院的电子邮件显示，记录错误地将这名儿童认定为与他的父亲住在夏威夷，而他的父亲告诉 CNN，他已将儿子列入了他的军事命令中。

他说，与儿子分离“极其艰难”，而且“应对不同的法律体系和军事义务也带来了巨大的挑战”。

富勒曾向三个国会办公室和美国领事馆寻求帮助，但她说，如果没有儿子父亲的同意，她无法为儿子获得美国护照。

虽然她仍然想回到美国，但目前她正努力为孩子们创造新的生活：安排玩耍时间、篮球训练、舞蹈课和生日派对。她的儿子现在有了一个美国同父异母的弟弟，而富勒本人也在学习欧洲法律和《海牙公约》的同时，努力通过社交媒体为其他家庭提供信息，并在此期间学会了西班牙语。

“即使已经太迟，无法让我找回那些逝去的岁月，但现在还不算太晚，我们可以确保其他人不会失去他们的岁月。”