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Court Sends Foster Child Back To China
kutv.com ^ | Jan 24, 2007 3:18 pm US/Mountain | kutv.com

Posted on 01/26/2007 5:59:46 AM PST by paltz

(CBS News)

NEW YORK Anna Mae was left in the United States by her Chinese parents when she was just 2 years old. Since then, she has lived with foster parents in Tennessee and is about to turn 8.

After a long legal battle, the Tennessee Supreme Court cleared the way for her to be reunited with her biological parents, Shaoqiang and Qin Luo He.

The Hes left Anna Mae with the Bakers after her father, a student at the University of Memphis, lost a scholarship and student stipend over a sexual assault charge for which he was ultimately acquitted.

The Bakers refused to give Anna Mae up and have been trying to adopt her over her parents' objections. They are not alone in their struggle: 29 percent of adopters had at least one failed adoption before successfully adopting. There are 1.6 million adopted children in the United States.

"The prolonged litigation as reported in your piece is really tragic," Lee Allen, policy director with the National Council for Adoption, told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "Unfortunately, it's not that unusual. There are about 500,000 children living in temporary care across America who cannot wait for courts to make decisions."

Even though she looks different than her Caucasian foster parents, the Bakers said she is an integral part of their family.

"She knows she's Chinese girl and has a Chinese mom and dad," Anna's foster father Jerry Baker said.

Three years ago, The Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman met with the Bakers, who said that it would be traumatic for everyone to remove Anna from their home.

"We think of it all the time, just putting her in that car seat for the last time and telling her bye, that she's never coming back. Yeah, that's very heart wrenching to even think about," Louise Baker said then.

"She's gonna ask, 'Well, where am I going?' " Jerry Baker said. "And you're gonna say, 'Well, you've, you've got to go to, um, China.' "

The Bakers have said Anna Mae has no connection to her biological parents, and contend she would have a better life in the United States than in China. In 2003, Chancery Court Judge Robert Childers of Memphis took away her biological parents' parental rights, ruling that they had abandoned Anna Mae.

But Tennessee Supreme Court overruled and said "the only evidence of substantial harm arises from the delay caused by protracted litigation and the failure of the court system to protect the parent-child relationship."

Allen said that decisions like this are usually best left to parents, but despite all the trauma and the years Anna Mae spent living in limbo, it appears that she will be going from one loving home to another.

"But, also, her story is not that uncommon," he said. "About 20,000 children experience this kind of a cultural transfer every year when they come to America from other countries, through international adoption. And the children overwhelmingly do very well.

"So it's going to be very interesting to see how Anna together with her parents face these challenges. Hopefully they will get professional help along the way."

Anna Mae will not be leaving the Bakers right away. Both families will be back in court to finalize the transfer of custody.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
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To: longtermmemmory
I've read about this case. The parents could not support her and asked for temporary help while the father was being cleared of charges. Afterwards, they asked for their child back - years ago, in fact. It's the foster family who dragged this case through the courts for years, thinking that "possesion is nine-tenths of the law" and that they would win.

It's sad, but do we really want to have parental rights terminated because other people can drag a case through the courts for years? Nationality is NOT the issue here, nor should it be. Otherwise, let's just keep every Chinese kid who enters this country so he can have a better life.

21 posted on 01/26/2007 7:37:41 AM PST by Texas_shutterbug
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To: Proudcongal
They continued to visit this child, until the foster parents wouldn't allow them to, and then the foster parents went to court four months later and said they had "abandoned" her.

You can't steal someone else's child. Parents have a right to raise their children in the culteral, religious, and manner they deem fit.

22 posted on 01/26/2007 7:41:14 AM PST by Texas_shutterbug
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To: paltz

The parents had an agreement with the foster parents that this would be a temporary arrangement. The parents claim that when they asked for their child back, the foster parents refused and went to court.

From what I've gathered from other news reports, these foster parents bear the blame for acting as if the child would be theirs permanently.

The Tennessee Supreme Court did the right thing. Fortunately, the natural parents' wish is for the child to keep a relationship with the foster parents. This will all work out for the best if all parties keep good faith.


23 posted on 01/26/2007 7:41:50 AM PST by zook (America going insane - "Do you read Sutter Caine?)
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To: paltz
From 2003:

http://www.visalaw.com/news/sussernewsstar_aug03

Story last updated at 1:33 a.m. Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Chinese couple face deportation, loss of child

Shaoqiang He, back-ground, and his wife, Qin Luo, swing their 11-month-old daughter, Avita He, in her swing in their apartment in Memphis, Tenn., on June 25. In the foreground is a photo of their other daughter, Anna Mae He, who is now 4-years-old. Anna Mae He is in foster care and has been taken away by the foster parents. (AP Photo)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- A world away from his home in China and accused of sexual assault, Shaoqiang He made two key decisions.

He ignored legal advice to plea bargain and demanded a jury trial. And when his first child was born with the trial still pending, He and the girl's mother put the baby in foster care since the criminal charge had left them broke and unable to care for her.

The jury trial gamble paid off: He was acquitted in February. But He and wife Qin Luo still can't get daughter Anna Mae back -- and now they're facing possible deportation, and the chance of losing her forever.

"I did not know what to do when my child was born. I just knew we wanted to take good care of her," said He, 38. "We thought we could get her back whenever we wanted."

The Hes have no legal grounds for being in the United States because he came here on a student visa which expired years ago. If an immigration judge orders them deported after a hearing in December, they may have to leave Anna Mae behind. Their lawyer, David Siegel, says the custody fight likely won't be settled by then.

Siegel said his clients didn't know court permission would be needed to get their child back after they agreed to what they thought was temporary custody.

"I'm not sure it was (legally) voluntary," Siegel said.

The Hes are willing to leave the country, said immigration lawyer Lynn Susser, who is advising the couple.

"They just want their child," she said.

But the couple who have custody of the girl, Jerry and Louise Baker of Shelby County, want to adopt her and believe she is better off with them, said their lawyer, Larry Parrish. They didn't initially plan to adopt her, Parrish said, but now they and their three biological children regard her as part of the family.

"It's the same as if somebody was trying to take my child away from me," Parrish said.

For He, the troubles began in October 1998 when He was working on a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Memphis. A student accused him of fondling her in a classroom when no one else was around. Despite He's denials, the university canceled his scholarship and the student stipend that was his primary source of income.

Anna Mae was born in January 1999 to a mother unable to speak English, a father accused of a crime and both parents out of work.

Through a nonprofit adoption agency, the couple met the Bakers, who offered to give Anna Mae a temporary home. The Hes visited Anna Mae regularly for more than a year, but then disputes began over how much access they should have.

An argument broke out in January 2001 and the Bakers called the police. He said his wife became upset when denied permission to take Anna Mae to have a family photo made.

Baker, a mortgage broker, and his wife have filed a petition in state civil court to nullify the Hes' parental rights. The Bakers contend Anna Mae's parents have abandoned her, while He says the police ran him off the Bakers' property during the 2001 dispute and told him not to come back.

A civil court judge will consider the Bakers' petition in September. No matter who wins, appeals are likely, and juvenile court hearings still will be needed for a decision on custody.

He has been making a modest living primarily with jobs in Chinese restaurants, and the couple now have two more children. Three-year-old Andy is in China with relatives, while 11-month-old Avita lives with her parents in their sparsely furnished one-bedroom apartment.

Several Chinese immigrants in Memphis have formed the Anna Mae Charitable Foundation and raised about $6,000 to help with legal expenses.

Jing Huang, an environmental engineer and supporter of the group, said he worries the Hes have not been treated fairly.

"If they didn't love the child, they would have given up a long time ago," he said.

The Chinese embassy in Washington has written to the Memphis court and the state attorney general asking for a quick resolution of the custody case and fair treatment for the Hes.

24 posted on 01/26/2007 7:49:18 AM PST by TennesseeGirl
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To: TennesseeGirl
I don't think that matters very much to this case. The extended family is extremely involved in China, and if these parents knew they couldn't care for their children here while fighting for their daughter, they sure wouldn't be stupid enough to trust the kids with other Americans, would they?

Imagine being in their shoes for just one moment. In another country, no money to fight for your rights to your child, being accused of a crime while working on a PhD. Geesh

The foster parents were wrong, and it would make horrible precedent to give them this child.

25 posted on 01/26/2007 7:55:53 AM PST by Texas_shutterbug
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To: TennesseeGirl; Vaquero

Thank you for that. Solid information, just what we needed.

Terrible what the family has been through. And I hope that the Bakers are no longer allowed to be foster parents after this - they have behaved despicably, trying to restrict the parents' access to their child.

Makes the knee-jerk reaction in post #2 look very foolish.


26 posted on 01/26/2007 8:00:41 AM PST by highball ("I never should have switched from scotch to martinis." -- the last words of Humphrey Bogart)
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To: WV Mountain Mama

She was put into foster care when she was 3 weeks, not 2 years old.


27 posted on 01/26/2007 9:48:43 AM PST by Proudcongal
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To: WV Mountain Mama

Here's the article I read saying they are illegal immigrants:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.foster24jan24,0,6610214.story?track=rss

The lower court seemed to have had it right, the Hes originally intended to grant custody to the Bakers, then when it suited them claimed they didn't understand what they were doing. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out fear of deportation caused them to use this child solely for their own purposes.


28 posted on 01/26/2007 10:07:32 AM PST by Proudcongal
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To: Proudcongal
Just because the biological parent's deporation case came up during the child custody fight does not ex-post facto means the biological parents' only or even primary reason to continue the fight for the custody is due to a desire to stay in the U.S..

A few other factors to consider: (1) the custody battle was already in progress before the biological parents faced deportation. (2) The biological parents have two other younger children borned in the U.S. who are U.S. citizens, so it's not like they only have this first child's citizenship status to hang on to, (3) the biological parents did return to China after losing the custody fight in the lower courts, so if staying in the U.S. was the only reason, they certainly didn't have to continue the custody case after they have gone back to China.

29 posted on 01/26/2007 10:23:43 AM PST by Republican Party Reptile
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To: Proudcongal

I don't believe that it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that they lost their child after a series of events that were not their fault. He was accused and acquitted of sexual assault. That charge set off this entire series of events. The foster family in the article says that they have refused to give the child back. Foster families are supposed to give the child back.


30 posted on 01/26/2007 12:39:01 PM PST by WV Mountain Mama (2007 resolution: learn how to rail a berm.)
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To: Proudcongal
The lower court seemed to have had it right, the Hes originally intended to grant custody to the Bakers

Temporary custody. If they wanted to give their daughter away, they would have put her up for adoption.

Foster care is a temporary measure, designed to take care of children whose parents want them but cannot care for them at the present time. Returning foster children to their parents (in the absence of abuse) is the priority, once the parents get their act together.

31 posted on 01/26/2007 1:26:27 PM PST by highball ("I never should have switched from scotch to martinis." -- the last words of Humphrey Bogart)
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To: pandoraou812

The story is not complete. Did the Chinese family leave the daughter hoping to return when the trial was over?

When did the Chinese couple leave?
When did the acquittal occur?
How long did the US family have the girl?
How long did the US family fight to keep her?
Has the Chinese couple been fighting to keep their daughter the whole time?
Lots more questions unanswered.


I can't make a decision without more information. If the acquittal was quick and couple didn't return for a few years, I would side with the US couple.

There are too many scenarios where I can side with one couple over the other.


32 posted on 01/26/2007 3:13:11 PM PST by art_rocks
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To: Proudcongal

How did you determine what is BEST for the child. Income, parents education, etc.

You don't think the daughter would later have abandonment issues and question "Why didn't my parents love me enough to fight for me."



33 posted on 01/26/2007 3:18:14 PM PST by art_rocks
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To: art_rocks
I said it was a strange story to begin with... I feel more for the child then anyone. I don't think I would want to leave with people I barely know and go to a place where I can't even speak the language. Unless somebody taught her...I feel for the American family personally. How do you rip a child from the arms of people who have loved and cared for for years and say its in her best interests to go with people she hardly knows to China? Anyway if she was born here isn't she an American citizen? Anyone know why the couple is going back to China ?
34 posted on 01/26/2007 3:27:54 PM PST by pandoraou812 ( zero tolerance to the will of Allah and dilligaf?)
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To: Proudcongal

I'm wondering if, in fact, the bioparents are doing this themselves or under some pressure from the Chinese government? China, for all its efforts to control its population through whatever means, nonetheless doesn't like losing its people to the West.


35 posted on 01/26/2007 3:37:51 PM PST by EDINVA
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