Ruling Made on Daughter Born to a Surrogate

A judge ruled Wednesday that an infant born to a surrogate mother will remain with her natural father and his wife while the legal battle continues over the validity of the surrogate contract.

But Superior Court Judge Harvey Sorkow said the natural mother, Mary Beth Whitehead of Brick Township, will be allowed to visit her 5-month-old daughter for two one-hour sessions each week in a supervised setting.

Alan Grosman, attorney for Whitehead, said he will appeal the ruling, which allows the child to remain with William and Elizabeth Stern of Tenafly.

Whitehead, who cared for the child during her first 4 1/2 months, “has been deprived of meaningful contact with the baby,” he said.

Refused to Give Up Child

The dispute began when Whitehead, 30, refused to surrender her daughter to the Sterns.

After giving birth on March 27, she decided to keep the baby and fled to Florida. Later, the child was retrieved by authorities and put in the temporary custody of the Sterns. Whitehead then filed suit to regain custody.

Until late August, Whitehead, her husband, Richard, and the Sterns had agreed that she had been impregnated by artificial insemination with Stern’s sperm under an agreement that she would bear the Tenafly couple a child for $10,000.

Whitehead alleges that her husband might be the child’s real father, despite a vasectomy.