Court Blocks Girl’s Move in Custody Case

A state appellate court on Friday temporarily blocked the transfer of a 3-year-old North Hollywood girl to the home of her birth mother--a transfer vigorously opposed by county social workers who said the move could threaten the toddler’s health and safety.

The court’s action means that the girl will remain, at least for now, in the apartment where she has lived with her maternal grandmother and half-brother, who have composed her nuclear family almost since birth. But the legal struggle over the child, detailed Thursday in The Times, appears far from over.

The girl’s mother, Kimberly Scott, 23--who has a record of using drugs and recently moved in with a paroled felon--has been granted an opportunity by the court to argue why her bid to regain her daughter should continue unimpeded. More delays and court hearings are almost a certainty.

“For now I’m just so relieved,” Samantha Scott, the girl’s grandmother, said at the prospect of keeping the girl. “At least she doesn’t have to leave on Monday. But everything is still so up in the air. We will just keep our fingers crossed and see what happens after that.”

Kimberly Scott has declined to comment on the custody struggle, as has her lawyer.