MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - The Vermont Supreme Court says a family court was right to award custody of an 8-year-old girl to her non-biological mother in a lesbian custody case.
In a ruling released Monday, the court upheld a 2009 order giving Janet Jenkins, of Fair Haven, sole custody of daughter Isabella Miller-Jenkins, rejecting an appeal by attorneys for biological mother Lisa Miller, of Forest, Va.
Miller and Jenkins were joined in a civil union in Vermont in 2000, and their daughter has been the subject of a long-running legal fight.
For now, the custody ruling may be a moot point: Miller, who has since renounced her homosexuality, and her daughter failed to appear for the court-ordered custody swap in January. Their whereabouts are now unknown.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
