I'm not sure how Colorado custody law works, but judges in family law cases generally have the power to look at the big picture and cut through legal technicalities. It's not terribly uncommon for judges to grant long-term live-in significant others some type of visitation rights.
But not joint-custody.
That judge should be disbarred.
Because he's doing family law, he has the "power to look at the big picture" and ignore the law? We go into fits when the Supreme Court does this (witness Sandra Day O'Connor's comments on having to view our Constitution through the lens of international law) and yet it's OK for a family law judge to do it? Does he get a pass because it's for the children?
His job is to rule on the law, not legislate from the bench.
We are supposed to be a nation of laws, not judges. That is what most of us on this forum are fighting for.