Court: OC Woman Can Keep Custody of Foster Daughter -- For Now

Santa Ana - A panel of California appellate court justices today ruled that a 2-year-old girl at the center of a child custody battle between a south Orange County foster mother and the girl's birth father in Ohio should stay in California as the case is sorted out.

Stacey Doss, who is the only parent 2-year-old Vanessa has known, will maintain custody of the girl in Orange County through early next year at least.

Attorneys for Doss and the birth father, Benjamin Mills Jr., have until Dec. 24 to file written legal briefs with the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana.

Associate Justices Eileen Moore, Richard Aronson and William Rylaarsdam heard oral arguments today on the their first stay of the lower court ruling July 14. After they receive more legal briefs on the merits of the case, the justices will have 90 days to issue a final ruling, but they have the right to extend that deadline.

"I am comforted Vanessa will stay with me through Christmas," Doss said after the hearing.

But a trial over custody is scheduled to begin Dec. 6 in Ohio. The appellate justices today doubted they have any authority in those proceedings.

Doss has refused to officially participate in the Ohio custody hearings, because her attorneys believe that if she were to try to intervene she would relinquish her rights in California and acknowledge Ohio's jurisdiction.

But Doss runs the risk of an Ohio court ruling ordering the child turned over to her biological grandmother. Under that scenario, Mills would have regular visitation with his daughter, and Doss believes he would have custody.

Doss said the issue should boil down to what's best for Vanessa. She will go to the Ohio appellate court, if the lower court there rules Vanessa should be taken away from her.

Part of what's in dispute is which court has jurisdiction and whether Doss has the right to appeal the rulings of California Family Court judges who have relinquished jurisdiction to Ohio.

The justices today had many questions about their role in the legal battle and what they have the authority to do.

Dodd argued that California has the strictest standards in the country favoring children in adoption and custody cases and that Doss should not have to surrender her rights in California.

Dodd argued that Doss filed the adoption claim first in June of 2008 so California laws should apply. Mills came forward with his paternity claim days later.

The 45-year-old Doss decided to adopt after years of unsuccessful attempts to become pregnant. An adoption agency put her in touch with Vanessa's birth mother, Andrea Conley, who agreed to give up custody when the girl was born.

The girl's mother claimed the pregnancy was the result of a one-night stand, and that Mills was not the father. The biological mother, Andrea Conley, reportedly has a long and contentious relationship with Mills. Genetic tests proved Mills was the father months after his first paternity claim.

"In these cases alleged fathers pop up all the time," Dodd said after the hearing. So Doss couldn't be sure Mills' claim was legitimate until months after Vanessa moved to California with her foster mother.

Doss got teary eyed during today's hearing when Mills' attorney Richard A. Derevan indicated she knew of Mills' claim earlier than she has said.

"When someone says I purposely did not do anything, I teared up," Doss said. "Five months after she was born was when I knew he was the biological father."

The justices hearing oral arguments today appeared puzzled why Doss is not participating in the custody case in Ohio.

Mills allegedly has a criminal background, including eight months in prison for domestic violence against Conley and multiple suspensions of his driver's license for failure to pay child support. Mills' mother has custody of Vanessa's two half-sisters, and two other children he had with another woman also do not live with him, according to Doss.

Vanessa's birth mother has attorneys arguing for Doss to get custody of the girl in the Ohio hearings.

Rylaarsdam was skeptical that Dodd had a case to appeal since the case in Orange County appears to have been dismissed before Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Naughton made an order relinquishing jurisdiction in July.

Derevan agreed.

"Our core position is Mr. Dodd's arguments are being made in the wrong court," Derevan said. "What he's really complaining about is the Ohio court ruling June 2."

That ruling ordered the custody hearing in Ohio, which will consider Mills' claim, Derevan said. The judge in Ohio will consider Mills' unfitness and unsuitability to have custody of Vanessa and what's in the best interests of the child, Derevan said.

The California justices will have to consider whether Doss suffers irreparable harm if Vanessa is returned to social services officials in Montgomery County, Ohio, as has been ordered, while the judge sorts out the custody issue.

Dodd said she would suffer harm because she would not have the right