Baby M’s Mom Says They Had ‘Great’ Reunion

Surrogate mother Mary Beth Whitehead had a “great” reunion with her year-old daughter today, seeing her for the first time since she lost custody of Baby M.

Whitehead had not seen the girl she bore under a $10,000 contract for William Stern since the morning of March 31. That afternoon, Bergen County Superior Court Judge Harvey R. Sorkow upheld the contract, gave custody of the child to Stern and terminated Whitehead’s parental and visitation rights.

Minutes after the ruling, the judge allowed Stern’s wife, Elizabeth, to adopt the baby who now is legally Melissa Elizabeth Stern.

The New Jersey Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear Whitehead’s appeal of Sorkow’s ruling, the nation’s first on a disputed surrogate contract.

Whitehead, a 30-year-old Brick Township homemaker, had also asked the state’s highest court for a stay of Sorkow’s ruling pending her appeal.

While the court refused to stay the entire decision, it did say Whitehead should be allowed to see her daughter for two hours each week while the litigation continues.

The court will hear oral arguments on Whitehead’s appeal Sept. 14.

Before Sorkow severed all contact between mother and daughter, Whitehead had been allowed to visit the girl for two hours twice each week.

When asked how today’s reunion at a Bergen County youth center went, Whitehead replied: “Great.” She said that during the visit she called the child Sara, the name she gave the baby when she was born March 27, 1986.