Posted on 12/29/2009 10:40:34 AM PST by Steelfish
Vt. Judge: Birth Mom Must Give Child To Ex-Partner
By WILSON RING Associated Press Writer Dec. 29, 2009
MONTPELIER, Vt. -- The birth mother of a 7-year-old Virginia girl must transfer custody of the child to the woman's former lesbian partner, a Vermont judge has ruled.
Vermont Family Court Judge William Cohen ordered Lisa Miller of Winchester, Va., to turn over daughter Isabella to Janet Jenkins of Fair Haven at 1 p.m. Friday at the Virginia home of Jenkins' parents.
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.
In the Dec. 22 order denying Miller's request to delay the transfer of Isabella, Cohen wrote: "It appears that Ms. Miller has ceased contact with her attorneys and disappeared with the minor child."
Liberty Counsel attorneys who have represented Miller in the past did not immediately respond to telephone messages left Tuesday by The Associated Press.
A listing for Lisa Miller in Winchester, Va., says the phone line has been temporarily disconnected at the customer's request.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
In the year 2000, Miller and Jenkins voluntarily of their own volition participated in a civil ceremony. And I can guarantee you, they were very proud of being some of the first to do so.
In the year 2002, after giving it a lot of thought, and going through a considerable expensive process, Miller gave birth to this child.
In 2003, Miller separated from Jenkins.
It’s my take, that the Vermont court had the first shot at this in family court. The judge made a determination considering the information he had at that time, and Miller got custody and Jenkins got visitation rights.
Evidently at some point, Miller didn’t like the arrangement and ran. It’s mentioned that she cut off her contact with her attorney.
The reason the Virginia court decision was overturned, is most likely related to the Vermont court having the first and primary possession of this case. If it had ruled, the other courts are reluctant to allow a parent to do an end run and obtain a judgment more to their liking in another state.
IMO, that’s why the Supreme Courts of both states allowed the Vermont decisions to stand.
My thought is that Miller and Jenkins cohabited in Vermont. The jurisdiction was in Vermont. That’s the way it goes.
Folks, you have heard the claims of Miller, and you judge them to be true. I wish it were that simple. None of us truly knows what took place. We don’t know if these charges are trumped up or not. We don’t know if the child has nightmares or not. We like the idea that the reformed lesbian now turned Christian would telling the truth, but we don’t really know that.
Christians are involved in an awful lot of court cases in this nation. Sadly some of the parents involved make up incredible stories to tell about their spouse, in a contest to see who can win the custody of the children they both love.
Hell, in my first marriage I still don’t know the truth of everything that went down. I was in that marriage and I didn’t know. People who weren’t in this marriage think they do. Well, if you do, you’re doing a better impression of Carnak the Magnificent than I can. When children are involved, it’s terribly hard to know exactly what is going on with the other parent.
Women make claims all the time against fathers. It’s nearly impossible to defend yourself against those charges. So what is a judge to to? Do they always listen to the mom, always dismiss the mom? Frankly, I’m glad I don’t have to make that determination.
I don’t believe this judge wanted to put the child in danger, or allow her to remain in danger. At this point, all I can do is allow the folks who know the most about it, child protective services and the court do what they think is best.
I certainly don’t know as much as they do about it, and I don’t profess too. I tried to give reasons why the courts ruled as they did. Some of you have disagreed with me, because you can’t stand to see that girl left in the custody of Jenkins.
Frankly, I don’t like it either, but something is going on here that we are not taking into consideration, because if the court were able to confirm what Miller is charging, then Jenkins wouldn’t have custody.
I am also reminded that if one parent bad-mouths the other constantly, the child can have nightmares based on that alone, if they have to go with the demonized non-custodial parent for visitation. Been there, done that.
I appreciate your differing points of opinion here. It is nice to see that folks want what is best for this child.
“Joseph Farah, editor of WND.com, allows multiple writers to post articles on WND.com, because he believes strongly in freedom of the press. He does not endorse all the view points expressed on WND.com.”
Perhaps that is the case and it is good to know that Joseph Farah allows views that he does not endorse be published on wnd.com.
However, it was Joseph Farah who wrote an article where he stated that he believed that pterodactyls as well as other assorted dinosaurs were still alive on the earth.
“There are also countless contemporary sightings of what appear to be pterodactyls in Asia and Africa.”
“You know what I think? I think we’ve been sold a bill of goods about the dinosaurs. I don’t believe they died off millions and millions of years ago. In fact, I’m not at all convinced they’ve died off completely.”
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41977
...celebrating the bipartisan divorce industry and enjoying the company of those feminist constituents?
Virginia does not recognize same sex civil unions or same sex marriages by its own laws or by state constitutional amendment, and yet, so far they are rolling over and not standing up for their own constitutional laws.
“Is this what you call justice?”
Yes, unless you can show me the place in the Constitution that states that Evangelical Christians do not have to abide by orders of the court.
WND.com is the only news organization reporting on this, and you are slamming Joe Farah. I would stand by his articles before your own bigoted opinions. Enough said...go back to trolling.
“WND.com is the only news organization reporting on this....”
No, there are hundreds of news organizations all over the country reporting on this story.
“...and you are slamming Joe Farah. I would stand by his articles before your own bigoted opinions. “
I did not slam Joe Farah, I simply questioned why a person would put any credence into the words of a person who believes the Flintstones are non-fiction.
That’s why I wrote ‘that other lesbian’.
I feel sorry for the kid. These two lesbats...no.
Your excusing treating a Christian mother like dirt, and kidnapping her child and placing it in the home of a pervert and degenerate, is disgusting. I never would have thought I would find ideas like this on Free Republic.
I never did say such a thing but rather said that there will likely be negative consequences for Ms. Miller for not following an order of the court.
freepmail!
While that may be true - and I'm not disputing that it is - there are other laws, specifically federal laws, that may be in play here. Again, it's the reason I wish I could read the opinion of the judge, and not the reporters characterization of the events and the ruling.
It's been a long time since I've studied domestic/family law, and I've never practiced in that field, but given the controlling federal law regarding interstate custody disputes, it's likely that the VI court had no legal option to rule any other way than what they did, irrespective of their own state's failure to recognize domestic homosexual partnerships and custody claims resulting from those unions.
Yes, I agree, that the mother will find some bad consequences for her actions, if found, but I believe that she believes that her actions, to protect her child from this lesbo, far outway any actions the court may impose upon her. I feel like she had no other alternative than to do what she has done. There is most definitely a higher authority (God) than the courts in this land, whether these damned judges agree or not.
I'm at a bit of a loss as to why you think the biological mother's religious faith should be a consideration for the court with respect to the issue of custody. Surely, you don't want a civil court system making a value judgment regarding the primacy of one religious belief over another, do you?
It seems clear from the facts available, that the biological mother completely mishandled this case, to include her own responsibilities during the litigation of the custody dispute. If she doesn't show up for a hearing, and flees the jurisdiction of the tribunal, she can't, nor can anyone else, be surprised with the bench rules against her claims. That's how American jurisprudence works, and we shouldn't expect it to work any other way, just because the mother is "Christian".
And you're using GOOGLE as your news source to report on how good the reporting has been for this sad & tragic story. I read 6 of the articles and quit reading after that. Every article was incredibly slanted about awful Miller is, and Ohhh that poor lesbian Jenkins just wants to be with "HER" child. You mean the one that she forces to bathe with Jenkins??? Google's political contributions were 98% to 0bozo & the demoRATs and you think they are a credible source for unbiased articles???
I feel heartbroken over any child that is forced to be raised by a lesbian or homosexual household, especially where there is sexual abuse & perversion & indoctrination going on, and yet you seem to be more for Jenkins to have her lesbian ways with a 7 year old.
Don't answer any more. I don't want to argue with an imbecile and defender of the homo/lesbian agenda.
Bye.
I’m missing the point of how the civil-ceremony partner’s interests take precedence over the birth mother, when the relationship itself lasted only from 2002-2003? And, how VA would cede its authority? (not that I have any faith in the VA courts). Do you have a cite for that decision?
I think you may be calling the wrong poster an “imbecile” as I have not defended “homo/lesbian agenda” and have not said that Ms. Miller should not have custody of her child.
However, those who believe that dinosaurs are walking or flying above the earth in the 21st century are deserving of that description.
Perhaps, that is how Ms. Miller views her case however, once she is found in violation of a court order and convicted of kidnapping, she stands little chance of ever seeing her daughter again.
You’re an idiot, you are defending the lesbo Jenkins in your entire spate of postings and you keep on flaming. Go troll someplace else. Go call Joe Farah and I would love to listen in on that conf call while he cleans your clock.
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