New Jersey High Court Acts : Surrogate Mother Wins Right to Visit Daughter

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Friday reinstated surrogate mother Mary Beth Whitehead’s right to visit the daughter she bore under a $10,000 contract, saying she can spend two hours a week with the baby.

The 6-1 ruling came 10 days after a lower court judge had stripped the 30-year-old homemaker of her parental rights and granted custody of the year-old girl to William Stern, the biological father.

The Supreme Court refused to stay Superior Court Judge Harvey R. Sorkow’s March 31 decision upholding the surrogate contract, but said Whitehead could visit her baby pending a decision on her appeal, said court spokeswoman Beatrice Kellum.

“It’s a really good feeling to know they’re giving me a chance,” Whitehead said outside her Brick Township home. “I’m just so happy I’m going to see her again. I got it back. It’s reinstated and I’m very very happy.

“She will be home, I feel it in my heart,” Whitehead said. “I just want to see her.”

Whitehead also said she will be allowed to continue calling the contested child Sara. “I think that says a lot from the Supreme Court.”

Stern and his wife, Elizabeth, who has adopted the baby, call her Melissa.

Whitehead will be able to see the child two hours less than she had been allowed before the lower court decision. The visits at a Bergen County center for youths will start this week.

The decision, made without comment, followed a conference call among the justices.

An attorney for the Sterns maintained that a resumption of visits would be detrimental to the “peace and security” of the girl.