Posted on 01/01/2010 2:04:35 PM PST by Skooz
A woman at the center of a complex dispute with her former lesbian partner defied a court order to give up custody of her 7-year-old daughter, an attorney said Friday.
A Vermont judge had ordered Lisa Miller to turn over daughter Isabella to Janet Jenkins at 1 p.m. Friday at the Falls Church, Va., home of Jenkins' parents.
Miller did not show up with the girl, said Sarah Star, Jenkins' Vermont-based attorney. Jenkins has notified Fairfax County, Va., police that Isabella is missing, Star said.
"She's very disappointed, obviously," Star said. "She's very concerned about Isabella and asks that if anybody sees Isabella, that they please contact the authorities."
Quantcast Miller and Jenkins were joined in a Vermont civil union in 2000. Isabella was born to Miller through artificial insemination in 2002. The couple broke up in 2003, and Miller moved to Virginia, renounced homosexuality and became an evangelical Christian.
When Vermont Family Court Judge William Cohen dissolved the couple's civil union, he awarded custody to Miller but granted liberal visitation rights to Jenkins.
The supreme courts of Virginia and Vermont ruled in favor of Jenkins, saying the case was the same as a custody dispute between a heterosexual couple. The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear arguments on it.
Cohen awarded custody to Jenkins on Nov. 20 after finding Miller in contempt of court for denying Jenkins access to the girl. The judge said the only way to ensure equal access to the child was to switch custody.
But Cohen also noted that it appeared Miller had stopped speaking to her attorneys and "disappeared" with the child.
Miller's last known address is in Forest, Va. A telephone number listed for her at that address rang unanswered Friday.
Her attorney, Mathew D. Staver, the law school dean at Liberty University, did not respond to a request through an assistant for comment.
I often have to cross Vermont to go from NY to NH. Vt is the home of Leahy and Sanders and now this monster judge. I make sure I never have to leave one penny in Vt. Sometimes I leave a well- timed dump. That’s all.
I guess I need to look up this story, but maybe Jenkins adopted the girl?
Why does ANYONE who has no biological connection to the child, anyway, get visitation rights?
I know I’d gladly assist the mother in hiding her child from this insane judge and his lackeys if the necessity arose.
If she is in a country without extradition provisions, law enforcement can do anything.
>> What would King Harrod do? ;)
Very good.
What other option does the judge have in this situation - Oh never mind, run off with the child and ignore the custody order that was originally agreed to?
I feel badly for everyone - the mom, the ex and especially the poor child.
The legal profession via the bar associations are a Marxist cancer....
You mean, can't do anything? Well, it's unlikely she's in such a place, but in such places, bribery generally prevails.
The judge is a pedophile and should be hanged...
Spot on.
My wife is an attorney that does pro bono work in family law and often represents kids in complicated custody cases.
The one common theme in all these cases is that each parent is not as good as they say they are and they are usually not as bad as th ex says they are.
However, junkies will say they are no longer junkies and alcoholics will claim they no longer drink.
And eveyone will claim that they found Jesus.
In every case, the kid losses.
I believe the woman NEVER exercised visitation from the time the child was a year old until some gay rights group got her to start making a fuss.
I hope this woman remains free until the child is an adult.
What about the turkey-baster? Doesn’t it get a vote?
The child was born in Virginia, which does not recognize homosexual “marriages.”
As with any revolt in any country the plan will be to use law enforcement and the military to impose their will. That is what the founders faced and it is no different now.
I suppose you could go King Solomon on them too.
Split her half ‘n half, even Steven.
No, Jenkins did not adopt her and never tried to adopt her.
The kid in this cace was traumatized when the mom’s former lesbian mate (on a court ordered visitation) forced the child to strip and bathe naked with her. That is why the mother asked for supervised visitation and the judge got mad and ordered her to just shut up and send the child, no matter what.
And it appears that the SCOTUS has no interest in reviewing VT Civil Unions.
Miller has lost at the VT court, the VA court and the SCOTUS.
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