For the Lost Blog

There has been quite a lot of articles written about the case of Isabella Miller-Jenkins. The angle the news media keeps playing up is “lesbian child custody debate.” This is literally true in that Isabella has two mothers as parents, Janet Jenkins and Lisa Miller, and that there had been a custody dispute between them. (They were married in a civil union in Vermont and separated several years later.)

However, despite the “novel and unusual” spin the media has put on it, it’s at its heart a typical family abduction case. Miller apparently engaged in a pattern of alienation against Jenkins which ultimately led to Jenkins being awarded custody of Isabella. Miller was supposed to turn her over to Jenkins on January 1, but instead fled with Isabella. There is now a local arrest warrant for her. Jenkins is just another left-behind parent. She has stated she worries about Isabella constantly and wonders if she is safe and well.

As gays and lesbians get much-needed rights in today’s society, they will marry and have families. Inevitably some will divorce, and there will be some custody battles like this one. But it’s not new, not novel, and just another part of the general problem of family abduction.

So says this article. I’m not surprised. At this point all I can hope is that they can find the body and give his father a chance to bury him. Then I can add him to my ever-growing list.