Melissa Stern

Personal

Notable

Family

American news figure, the child of a surrogate mother who kept her. Her mother, Mary Beth Whitehead, was the surrogate mother by contract for a 40 year-old and childless father, William Stern, and his wife. Melissa was named Sara by her surrogate mother, but removed by court order to the temporary custody of her father who filed suit for breach of contract. Lasting for two years and bitterly fought, the custody case went all the way to the New Jersey State Supreme Court. When all was said and done, Stern was awarded custody on 3/31/1987. The case was a precedent-setting trial for the legal and moral questions of surrogate parenting. Stern's victory was not total, though, as Whitehead was granted visitation rights twice a month to her "daughter." Melissa has been raised with full knowledge of the story and calls both her surrogate and biological mothers, "mom." At two, the little girl could not say Melissa so gave herself the name of Sassy. She lives with the Sterns a majority of the time but visits with her mom and half brothers often. The two families are civil, but not really friendly. Link to Wikipedia biography