In our previous post, we began looking at a custody battle between two women who had spent 11 years together and began raising a little girl together. As we noted, the child's birth mother is currently fighting to regain custody of her daughter, who has been living with her birth mother since two women separated.

The case highlights the current state of laws concerning same-sex partners, especially in states like Florida that don't recognize gay marriage. Sources did say, though, that Florida legalized second-parent adoption last year.

Second parent adoption is a legal procedure which allows a same-sex parent to adopt a partner's biological or adoptive child without terminating the legal rights of the first parent. That procedure was not available in Florida at the time of this incident.

The kinds of legal issues that come up for same-sex couples are obviously unique. In cases like this, where one mother is the birth mother and the other the biological mother, it apparently is not uncommon for a birth mother to become uncooperative with custody after an amicable separation.

Sources said that in this case, the birth mother attempted to caricature her former partner as the "donor mother," which-according to the biological mother's attorney-doesn't make legal sense, as she wasn't giving her eggs with no strings attached and thereby relinquishing parental rights. Indeed, she intended to be a mother to the child and be a part of its life.

At this point, the case is expected to go back up to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, and perhaps even the U.S. Supreme Court. As it progresses, it will be interesting to see what happens in this area of law.

Source: ABC News, "Biological Mom Kept From Child in Lesbian Legal Case," Susan Donaldson James, January 5, 2012.