‘Genetic’ Parents Granted Temporary Custody : Surrogate: Despite a possible “bonding advantage,” the woman hired to bear the child rejects foster care. The custody hearing will continue Thursday.

In an arrangement that was likened to the biblical tale of King Solomon, Orange County surrogate mother Anna L. Johnson tearfully agreed Friday to temporarily surrender custody of the baby she bore to the infertile couple who hired her.

Her agreement will allow Mark and Crispina Calvert, who donated the sperm and egg that were implanted in Johnson, to take the baby boy home today from St. Joseph Hospital in Orange and keep him until another custody hearing can be held Thursday.

Johnson, 29, is the first surrogate mother to ask a judge for custody and parental rights to a baby that is not genetically related to her.

The Calverts smiled and hugged each other in court when they heard the news Friday.

“We’re overjoyed,” Mark Calvert told a crowd of reporters. “This is the happiest day of our lives.”

In a related development, the Calverts’ lawyer said Thursday that preliminary results from blood tests showed a “greater than 99% certainty” that the infant, who weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces at birth Wednesday, was the Calverts’ child. DNA tests are expected to confirm that result next week.

Johnson and the Calverts had been unable to agree on a custody arrangement. As a result, Santa Ana Superior Court Judge Richard N. Parslow Jr. was about to place the baby in a foster home in order to avoid giving either side a “bonding advantage,” according to lawyers who huddled behind closed doors with Parslow for five hours Friday.

The Calverts dug in their heels, flatly refusing to allow Johnson to take the baby home with her, attorneys said. That left two choices: the baby could be placed in a foster home that had been chosen by his court-appointed guardian, William Steiner, or he could go home with the Calverts.

It was Johnson, calling from the hospital in tears, who broke the standoff.

“Anna couldn’t live with the idea of her child being in a foster home,” said her lawyer, Richard C. Gilbert. “Anna is a mother. She saw her baby in danger, and like any mother, she did what she could to save it. She said, ‘Do anything to keep him out of the foster home.’ ”

Attorneys who attended the in-chambers hearing said Gilbert relayed Johnson’s sentiments to Parslow. In response, Gilbert said, Parslow asked: “So, this is something like Solomon, where one party stands up and says don’t tear up the baby?

In the tale, King Solomon offered to cut a baby in half because two women both claimed to be its mother. Ultimately, the infant’s true mother choose to surrender her child to the other woman rather than see it harmed.

The infant’s court-appointed attorney, Harold F. LaFlamme, painted a less heroic portrait of the surrogate mother. He said Johnson and her attorney “just caved in” when they realized the judge would not give the baby to either party.

Asked LaFlamme rhetorically: “If Saddam Hussein decides to withdraw from Kuwait, should he be considered a hero?”

Despite the agreement of all parties to the temporary custody arrangement, Gilbert said he would file an immediate appeal.

If the 4th District Court of Appeals decides to hear arguments on the case, Thursday’s custody hearing could be canceled.

Under terms of the temporary agreement, the baby will live with the Calverts, who want to name him Christopher Michael, and Johnson will be permitted three hours of visitation each day.

Court-appointed guardian Steiner said he will monitor those visits because there has been “a great deal of acrimony” between the parties.