Dayton man's father says son should get his daughter back

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By Cornelius Frolik and  Mary McCarty, Staff Writers Updated 11:13 PM Wednesday, July 7, 2010

HUBER HEIGHTS — Hours after his son’s custody battle made national news on “Good Morning America,” Benjamin Mills Sr. said “He’s a grown man — he should get his daughter back.”

Mills Sr. of Huber Heights said Wednesday afternoon that his 39-year-old son, Benjamin Mills Jr., nicknamed Jamie, is a caring parent who just wants to see his child.

Mills Jr. of Dayton is embroiled in a custody dispute over his 2-year-old daughter, Vanessa, who was adopted and raised since birth by a 45-year-old single woman, Stacey Doss of Orange County, Calif.

Doss has been ordered to return the child to Montgomery County by July 16 while custody for Vanessa is decided. She made an emotional appeal for her daughter in an 8 a.m. “GMA” segment with reporter and former Clinton administration official George Stephanopoulos.

Mills Jr. has served time in prison for domestic violence and he does not have custody of any of his five children, family members said. Montgomery County Children Services has an open case involving Mills’ older children.

“He’s changed,” his father said. “He’s a good father to them.”

Mills Sr. said that two of his son’s children, Vanessa’s full siblings, are in the custody of Mills Jr.’s 62-year-old mother, Rena Jordan. Several times during an interview with the Dayton Daily News, the elder Mills said his son intended to place Vanessa in the custody of his mother, but he later said, “I don’t really know what he’s doing.”

Jordan worked for Middletown City Schools until resigning in 2008. A man at her home in Middletown said she was unavailable for comment.

Mills Jr.’s attorney, Elizabeth Gorman of Legal Aid of Western Ohio, released a statement in response to the GMA segment that her client places his trust in the courts and “will remain focused on the law and not on the publicity generated by Stacey Doss.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-0749 or cfrolik@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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