The toddler has lived with the couple since birth.

At the end of December 2015, a lesbian couple from Brisbane was ordered to hand back their adopted daughter to her biological mother.

The biological mother, known as Ms Grady relinquished the baby girl to the care of Ms Blaze and Ms Darnley after giving birth.

While pregnant, Ms Grady did not believe she or the child’s biological father would be able to support the baby. The couple lived with Ms Grady while she was pregnant and helped her to run the household. The three women had a parenting plan drafted by a lawyer that is referred to in court as a “quasi-adoption”. She requested that she and her three older children have “some ongoing relationship” with the baby.

Three months after the baby was born in June 2013, Ms Grady discovered that the man she believed to be the biological father was not. Through DNA testing, Mr Harper was identified as the child’s biological father and he stated that he wanted a relationship with his daughter and was willing to give financial support.

In October 2013, Ms Grady informed Ms Blaze and Ms Darnley that she had “changed her mind” and wanted her daughter back.  In April 2014, Grady “reclaimed” the young child which led the couple to involve the authorities. An interim judgment from the Federal Circuit Court ordered that the girl live primarily with the couple.

Ms Blaze and Ms Darnley questioned Ms Grady’s motives for seeking custody of the child and her parenting skills. Ms Blaze stated in court she was worried that Ms Grady could “change her mind again.”

Justice Michael Kent stated that it is in the child’s best interest to live primarily with her biological parents while keeping a meaningful relationship with Ms Blaze and Ms Darnley. He set up a four-step transition schedule that includes a visit one weekend a month with the couple.