Editor's Note: "Operation Vanessa" was originally posted on Patch on Jan. 5, 2011, as part of the top 10 stories of 2010 series. Here's a rewind in case you missed it the first time.

The year ended on a happy note for Stacey Doss and her daughter, Vanessa, mostly because Doss didn't have to worry about court dates, but there's a battle looming in 2011.

In a story that became national in scope, Doss is trying to retain custody of Vanessa, 2 1/2, despite attempts by the girl's biological father, and separately by the girl's paternal grandmother.  Benjamin Mills Jr., of Dayton, OH, has a rap sheet and four other kids, none of whom are in his custody.  Two of those are daughters who are being raised by Rena Jordan, Mills' mother.

They, and biological mother Andrea Conley, are the major players in a case that adoptive parents are watching closely.  After years of unsuccessfully trying to have a child with her ex-husband, Doss used an adoption service and was essentially hand-picked by Conley to adopt Vanessa. A work-at-home public relations specialist, Doss returned to California with Vanessa when the baby was 3 weeks old after receiving legal approval to do so.

However, Conley wasn't totally up front regarding her relationship with Mills, 39, explaining that the child was the product of a one-night stand with a father who was inconsequential. She even signed a legal document declaring she did not know who the father was. In fact, Conley had two other children with Mills—the girls being raised by the grandmother.

Soon after Vanessa's birth, Mills showed up for the child, and a DNA test proved four months later that he was the father. The heart of the conflict is that Mills says he never gave consent for the little girl to be adopted and wants her back. 

On July 2, California courts told Doss she had to return the child to Ohio by July 16, but a temporary emergency stay through an appellate court has kept the child with Doss, ruling that it's in the little girl's best interests. A custody hearing that was to begin July 29 has been rescheduled twice—now until March 7—to allow motions and counter motions to be heard.

Mediation attempts in September failed to yield a compromise, and Doss paid to fly Mills to California to visit Vanessa. Doss wrote on the operationvanessa.com website that Mills "made clear his desire to see Los Angeles, the Lakers and the beach ... as if it were a sightseeing visit."  

The tumultuous year has been spent with lawyers and trying to raise funds to continue the legal battle. Doss has gone into foreclosure twice and owes two teams of attorneys collectively more than $100,000.

Sixteen law school professors from around the country, including James G. Dwyer of William and Mary College of Law, filed an amicus brief  Dec. 21 with California's 4th District Court of Appeal. The brief's bottom line: "The fundamental 14th Amendment right of intimate association protects the family relationship that (Vanessa) has formed and that is central to her basic welfare, precluding the state of California from intruding into her home and ending her family life." 

According to the Dayton Daily News, Dwyer thinks the case could end up in front of the United States Supreme Court as a test for rights of children against rights of birth parents.

As for Vanessa, the only parent she has ever known is Doss.

"She will never leave her safe haven of family and friends," Doss said. "I will do whatever I have to do."