Operation Vanessa Is a Success; Toddler to Remain with Mom

Stacey Doss, the Rancho Santa Margarita woman whose attempt to adopt her daughter, Vanessa, hit a snag when the birth father tried to intervene, has won the right to retain custody of the little girl.

Doss and Benjamin Mills Jr., as well as Mills' mother, have been trying to get custody of Vanessa, whose mother hand-picked Doss to adopt the girl. Doss has raised Vanessa since she was 1 day old. Doss' attempt to keep her almost-adopted daughter was .

Doss and Mills negotiated a settlement in Montgomery County (Ohio) Juvenile Court.

According to the Dayton Daily News, Doss will drop her petition, and Rena Jordan—the child's paternal grandmother—will be granted visiting rights. Jordan is the guardian of Mills' two older daughters and Vanessa's sisters. The first visitation will occur in June when Doss will pay to fly Jordan and her granddaughters Heaven and Amiya, to California. The second visitation will be in September, when Vanessa will visit the grandmother and the father will be allowed to visit Vanessa under the supervision of the grandmother.

A hearing began last week. The father was set to take the stand on Monday, but lawyers reportedly met for seven hours to negotiate a settlement.

The case had attracted national attention toward parental rights of birth parents. Mills has a history of domestic violence and doesn't have custody of any of his children. Doss is the only mother that Vanessa has known. She told Patch in January that she expected the case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

Richard Hempfling, the attorney for Doss in Ohio, said that "for three years, Ms. Doss has had nothing but Vanessa's best interests at heart, and she has agreed to this because it is in the best interests of Vanessa."