Filed under: Adoption, Family togetherness, Child Custody, Parental relationships
A seven year custody battle has come to an end for 8-year-old Anna Mae He. The Tennessee Supreme Court ordered that the child be returned to her biological parents permanently, who plan to return to China with her.Her parents, Shaoqiang and Qin Luo He, came here for Shaoqiang to attend graduate school. The family faced enormous financial problems and Jerry and Louise Baker became foster parents for baby Anna. The Hes signed a temporary custody agreement for the Bakers to care for Anna, but claim they never agreed to give up Anna permanently. The Bakers decided that they wanted to adopt the child and accused the Hes of being unfit parents, claiming she would have a better life here than in China.
In 2004, a Memphis judge claimed that the Hes had abandoned Anna Mae and took away their parental rights. Shaoqiang He's student visa expired but he was allowed to stay in the U.S. until the custody battle was resolved. Now that he has regained custody of his daughter, he now faces immediate deportation to China.
This is a very sad story. I cannot imagine how scared a child must feel, being returned to her parents after living with her foster family for seven years. She also now faces leaving the only home she's ever known to go to a foreign country where she doesn't even know the culture or the language.
A psychologist who is working with the family was hoping that the little girl would have more time to adjust to the change before leaving the United States and returning to China. Judge Lawrence Berman, an immigration judge in Memphis, gave the Hes until May 2 to leave the country at their own expense.
Whether this decision was right or wrong, the end result is that this child has some enormous challenges ahead of her. I can only hope that these parents give this little girl a lot of love to help her adjust to such a drastic change in her life.
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