Former Lesbian Defies Custody Case Order

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."

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 .

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.
By Associated Press Writer Ben Nuckols