IN 1991, A BABY GIRL was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. No one knew it at the time, but the girl would become one of the most famous people in America before the age of three. Known only as Baby Girl Clausen when she was born, she was soon to be at the center of one of the fiercest adoption battles ever—a controversy over the rights of biological fathers.

Baby Girl Clausen was born on February 8. On February 10, her biological mother, Cara Clausen, signed papers to release the child for adoption. Clausen's boyfriend, whom she listed as the biological father, had no interest in raising the baby, and he signed the papers as well. Meanwhile, a Michigan couple, Jan and Roberta DeBoer, began the necessary arrangements to adopt the child. A week after Baby Girl Clausen was born, the DeBoers arrived in Cedar...