Vt. judge gives Va. woman 30 days to show up with child in custody dispute with former partner
By APFriday, January 22, 2010
Vt. judge sets deadline in women’s custody dispute
RUTLAND, Vt. — A judge is giving a Virginia woman at the center of a lesbian custody dispute 30 days to appear in court with her 7-year-old daughter or face possible arrest.
Vermont Family Court Judge William Cohen made that ruling Friday in the long-running custody dispute between two women who were once joined in a civil union.
Janet Jenkins, of Fair Haven, Vt., had asked Cohen to hold her former partner, Lisa Miller, in contempt of court. Miller, of Forest, Va., was supposed to turn over the child, Isabella, to Jenkins on Jan. 1. She hasn’t done so.
The couple broke up in 2003. Miller, the girl’s biological mother, moved to Virginia, renounced homosexuality and became an evangelical Christian.
Miller’s lawyer says she doesn’t know where Miller and Isabella are.
