Non-Bio Lesbian Mom Wins Visitation Rights
Some good news for the holiday weekend: A Vermont court has given non-bio mom Janet Miller-Jenkins the right to visit her five-year-old daughter Isabella, whom she hasn’t been able to see or contact in over two years. Her former partner, Lisa Miller-Jenkins, kept their daughter from her in a headline case that bounced between the jurisdictions of Vermont and Virginia.
The couple had created Isabella together, and had a civil union in Vermont. After the couple separated, Lisa Miller-Jenkins moved to Virginia, began espousing conservative Christian beliefs, and declared herself straight. She enlisted the help of an ultra-right legal organization to try and gain sole custody. Now, however, a court has granted Janet visitation rights. Because Vermont does not allow joint custody, reports the Rutland Herald, Janet is in turn seeking primary custody, with visitation rights for Lisa.
This week’s ruling, nevertheless, must come as an immense relief for Janet. I cannot fathom missing two years of my child’s life. I wish her and Isabella all the best as they reconnect.
(Thanks, PageOneQ.)
Filed under: Parenting, Politics and Law
I wish them well, too.
Religious overtones aside (although it’s an important case and one I was glad was decided correctly), it saddens me to see any parents engage in tug of war over their children. Nobody wins.
Take care. I’ll see you around here or on the forum formerly known as BB.
I know ‘any parents’ fighting over kids is sad but I get so wild when lesbians do it. It’s not rational (on my part). Obviously it’s bad for the child but ‘Can’t they see?’, I rage, that it also affects the rest of us - people make generalisations and assumptions about ‘all lesbians’ when individuals do stupid things that they never would if the perpetrators were straight. I believe there’s a psychological term for that.
[...] Earlier this month, a Vermont court gave Janet Miller-Jenkins the right to visit their five-year-old daughter Isabella, whom she hasn’t been able to see or contact in over two years. She is now seeking primary custody, with visitation rights for Lisa, because Vermont does not allow joint custody. [...]
[...] I’ve written about this case several times before. I admit I was hoping the court would rule for Janet Jenkins to have primary custody; Lisa Miller’s sudden conversion to being straight and her association with an ultra-conservative legal organization always seemed duplicitous and self-serving. She has, however, had custody of Isabella for the past two years, during which she did not let her see Jenkins. This was an awful thing to do, but perhaps “the best interests of the child” now mean keeping the continuity in her life. Perhaps, though, the judge simply falls into the “biology is everything” camp. It’s hard to tell from here. This is a blow for non-bio moms; we can only hope it is to the benefit of Isabella. Bookmark to: [...]