Earlier this week, we wrote that a man from Georgia was recently awarded child custody of a 3-year-old girl. His wife died shortly after giving birth to the child. However, he was in the process of divorcing his wife because she became pregnant by another man.

Therefore, the man is legally but not biologically the girl's father. To complicate matters further, he is also a registered sex offender because he slept with the girl's mother when when she was just 14.

The man lives in Georgia where the girl will come to live with him. However, the ruling was delivered by a Florida judge, where the girl is currently being raised by her biological grandmother.

The recent ruling has devastated the woman, who claims that she should be allowed to legally adopt the girl. She says: "Her whole world is here (so) how could a judge do that?"

The woman's attorney adds: "The only home, the only person this child has ever known she's being ripped away from to be put with a stranger."

This controversial custody decision has also grabbed the attention of some state legislators and legal experts. Some have spoken publicly about their outrage concerning the decision.

The child's grandmother does have the opportunity to appeal the ruling. Attorneys also say she can report the case to the state Department of Child and Family Services (DCF).

Talking about the case, one attorney says: "Could his rights be terminated? Yes, and if he runs afoul, or the DCF says this person should never have been given parental rights then it would be undone."

Source: ABC News online, "Grandmother, Sex, Offender Fight for Custody of Child," Dean Schabner, 17 July 2011