A state Superior Court panel awarded custody of 2¹/₂-year-old triplets born through a surrogate mother to their biological father yesterday, reversing previous court rulings in a custody battle that has spanned the children's lives.

The three-judge panel decided that the surrogate mother, who has no genetic connection to the babies, had no legal standing to seek custody of the children and said "the manner in which [she] obtained custody of the children was fraught with impropriety."

The appeals court also criticized an Erie County judge for voiding a surrogacy contract that gave custody of the triplets to the father, and an Erie hospital for helping the surrogate mother take the babies home against the father's wishes just days after they were born.

The biological father, James O. Flynn of Kirtland, Ohio, and his fiancee, Eileen Donich, a retired dentist, signed a $20,000 contract with Danielle Bimber, 31, of Corry to serve as surrogate mother, with the understanding that the Ohio couple would be the children's parents.

Mr. Flynn and Dr. Donich contracted with another woman, Jennifer M. Rice, 23, of Texas, to donate the eggs which were fertilized by his sperm. The embryos then were implanted in Ms. Bimber's womb for gestation.

After she gave birth in November 2003, Mrs. Bimber decided to take the children home, claiming that Mr. Flynn, 64, and his fiancee had failed to visit the babies in the hospital for several days.

The Superior Court panel's 36-page ruling said the Ohio couple visited the children on the day of their birth, constantly inquired about their care in the hospital and twice planned visits for "nesting" and to learn how to use monitoring equipment for the triplets, only to have those visits postponed by doctors.

When the couple returned for a subsequent visit, hospital staff falsely told the couple that Mrs. Bimber had taken the children home, when in truth they were still in Hamot Medical Center.

"When intended parents arrived for their scheduled nesting and monitor training, they were turned away by hospital staff, who misled them by claiming that the babies had been 'discharged' to [Mrs. Bimber]," the panel wrote.

The court also noted that Mrs. Bimber scheduled a premature Caesarean delivery of the triplets without telling the Ohio couple.

Because the delivery was scheduled without the couple's knowledge, there was no time for the couple to make proper arrangements to watch their four grandchildren, who were staying with the couple, further complicating their efforts to travel to Erie for visits.

In January 2005, Erie County Judge Shad Connelly voided the surrogacy contract and awarded custody of the triplets to Ms. Bimber.

The Superior Court panel called the ruling "seriously flawed" and said Judge Connelly erred in voiding the contract despite not being asked to do so by any of the parties in the case.

"This case involves a biological father seeking custody of his children from a third-party [surrogate] who is not the children's biological mother, and who took the children from the hospital in direct defiance of father's wishes ... there is no law in this Commonwealth that accords standing to a surrogate with no biological connection to the child she seeks to take into her custody," the panel ruled.

A tearful Mrs. Bimber last night said she would appeal the ruling.

The children were with the Ohio couple on a court-mandated visit yesterday, and Mrs. Bimber said she did not know when she would see them again.

"I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to them," she said.

Attorneys for Mr. Flynn could not be reached.