Surrogate mother keeps children, returns $20,000 fee

By Julia Spalding

Published on March 20, 2006

The decision is the result of a unanimous Court of Appeals ruling involving 31-year-old Danielle Bimber and the biological father of the three boys she delivered, 64-year-old James Flynn.

A contract (through the Indiana-based agency Surrogate Mothers Inc.) said Bimber and her husband would surrender any custody rights after the birth. Bimber broke the contract when she took the three boys home from the hospital eight days after they were born, against Flynn's wishes. In court records, Bimber said she did that because Flynn and his fiancée didn't name the children or visit them for six days after seeing them when they were born.

Though the children have no genetic connection to Bimber, a Pennsylvania court awarded her primary custody last year and granted visitation to Flynn.

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