Surrogate Mom Is Asking The Supreme Court For Custody Of Children That Aren't Hers

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Surrogate Mom Is Asking The Supreme Court For Custody Of Children That Aren't Hers

You may remember Melissa Cook's legal case from last year. If you don't, be ready to hear about it everywhere, because it's going all the way to the Supreme Court.

Cook, from 2016.Gregg Segal

This strange and difficult situation began when divorced mother of four Melissa Cook, now 49, was paid $33,000 to have a child via IVF. Cook carried eggs donated by another woman, which were fertilized by a man identified only as C.M. in court documents.

A relative of C.M. identifies him as a deaf 55-year-old single man who works as a mail sorter for the post office. She claims that he's wanted to have children for a long time, but also say he's "socially awkward," "paranoid" and prone to violence against animals.

A photocopy image of C.M from a court document.L.A. Superior Court Document

The relationship between Cook and C.M. made headlines last year when he asked Cook to abort one of her triplets because he was running out of money. Since the children were born, C.M. has refused to let Cook see the children, or even donate her breast milk to them.

In most parts of America this would be a relatively simple case, but California is one of the few states with no adoption process for surrogate parents. In the eyes of the law, C.M. is the father of the triplets, and so far Georgia's Family and Children Services haven't separated them.

Cook at a press conference with her attorneys.Marshall Thompson

Now, Cook is taking her case to our country's highest court to protect the children from what she calls a "horror story."

Court documents claim that C.M. is keeping the children in "deplorable" conditions, and Cook is asking to have them returned to her.

Cook and her attorney Michael Caspino.Orange County Register

C.M.'s sister Melinda Burnett has made shocking claims about the way her brother treats the triplets. She alleges that they regularly eat food off the dirty floor, and that C.M. gave the babies diaper rash by refusing to change them for hours.

"It's a horror story," Cook told People Magazine. "These babies don't deserve this." Documents filed by her lawyers claim that C.M.'s "incompetence and unfitness to care for the three babies was apparent" from the moment they were born.

A doctor and a trio of nurses from the Los Angeles hospital where the children were born were actually so concerned for their safety that they followed C.M. home to Georgia, where the head nurse tried to report him to Family and Children Services.

The Supreme Court Building.Wikimedia

The controversial case will be conferenced before the Supreme Court next week, and Cook hopes this painful situation will be over soon. C.M.'s lawyer is also the co-owner of the surrogate company that matched him with Cook.

Share this story if you think Cook should get her babies back!

[H/T: People Magazine]

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