Surrogate’s Emotions Said Key in Custody

A girl born under a surrogate contract will have to face the circumstances of her birth, and her mother’s mental state should be weighed carefully in deciding whether she should get visitation rights, a psychologist said today.

“In a typical custody situation, you have to see when a parent is being dysfunctional enough that it could undermine the child’s well-being,” said David Brodzinsky, a Rutgers University professor.

The mother of the 11-month-old child, Mary Beth Whitehead, has “no diagnosable condition,” he said, but because the case is so unusual, he would recommend that she not get custody and not be allowed to visit her daughter.

Whitehead, 29, agreed under contract to be artificially inseminated with the sperm of William Stern and bear him and his wife, Elizabeth, a baby for $10,000.

Fled to Florida

She changed her mind after the child’s March 27 birth, turned down the money and fled to Florida with the infant. Authorities caught up with her and returned the child known as Baby M to the temporary custody of the Sterns, who have sued for permanent custody.

Brodzinsky, one of three experts hired by the child’s court-appointed guardian to review the case, testified that it is not a typical custody dispute because Baby M’s parents eventually will have to explain the circumstances of her birth.

If those “special needs” of the child were disregarded, he said, Whitehead’s emotional state would not be as important a factor in deciding the custody and visitation issue.

The other two experts also recommended that custody go to the Sterns and that visitation be denied Whitehead, characterizing her as self-centered, impulsive and unable to separate her own needs from those of her children.

Under cross-examination by Randolph Wolf, an attorney for Whitehead, Brodzinsky said the child could benefit by growing up with the surrogate’s other two children. The Sterns have no children.