In re: T.R. – Part 1

           It was late in 1988 when it all started. Clayton W. Rose, Jr. was the Administrative Judge of the Franklin County Domestic Relations and Juvenile Court at the time. When I got to the Courthouse that morning, he came to my office and said he wanted to talk to me. I didn't know it then (do we ever?) but events were about to begin to unfold that would change my life. Here is that story.

                                                          

            Judge Rose told me that he had set aside a custody decision in a divorce case and dismissed the custody portion of the case after facts were revealed to him concerning the alleged child of the parties. Genetic tests had revealed that Richard Reams, the husband in the divorce case, was neither the natural nor adoptive parent of the alleged child of the marriage. Further, the wife in the divorce, Beverly Reams, later known as Beverly Seymour, was neither the biological nor adoptive mother of the child.

            Judge Rose told me that a custody case had been filed by Beverley Seymour, pro se, concerning the child, whose name was Tessa Annaleah Reams. As Administrative Judge, he had assigned the case to me, if I was willing to accept it. "Sure," I said, "why not?' His response was: "Have fun."

            The circumstances of Tessa's birth were complex, to say the least. Richard and Beverly Reams were unable to conceive a child, so Richard contacted an agency called the Association for Surrogate Parenting Services, which put him in touch with Norma Lee Stotski. Norma agreed to act as a surrogate and to be artificially inseminated with Richard's sperm. She was to be paid $10,000 to provide this service, surrender custody of the child at birth, and consent to adoption of the child by Beverly.

            Tessa was born on January 12, 1985, and Richard and Beverly took possession of her soon after. Nothing was done to formalize the adoption of the child by Beverly. The divorce action, which Judge Rose eventually resolved without determining custody of the child, was filed a year later.

            Genetic tests to determine just who Tessa's parents were revealed that Richard was not her biological father; rather, a friend of Norma's named Leslie Miner had provided the sperm for a supposed self-administered artificial insemination of Norma after the attempts with Richard's sperm had failed. Neither Richard nor Beverly had been informed of this change in plans.

            While Richard and Beverly shared possession of Tessa, a custody action involving Richard, Beverly, Norma, and Leslie was commenced and assigned to me. A Guardian ad Litem was appointed to represent the best interests of Tessa. The battle was joined. Newspaper articles about the dispute appeared in the Delaware Gazette and the Columbus Dispatch.

But these initial articles were just the beginning of a storm of publicity that occurred when Beverly decided to attempt to enlist the press as her ally in the struggle to obtain custody of Tessa. In January of 1989, she sent a press release she prepared, accompanied by a picture of Tessa, entitled "Mother in Fact Battles Surrogate for Child" to newspapers and surrogate parenting organizations. The release included solicitation of contributions to a "legal fund."

All hell broke loose as The New York Times ran several articles about the case. The Columbus Dispatch included pictures in its coverage. People Magazine ran a six-page story. A supermarket tabloid ran a feature titled "Who Owns Baby Tessa" and invited readers to submit proposed solutions. A crew from Fox Television interviewed Beverly and she was invited to appear on the Geraldo talk show.

Something had to be done.