The plight of Anna Mae He dates back well over 6 years. The custody battle has been ongoing since her 2nd birthday in 2001.
I previously wrote of the battle for custody of little Anna Mae back in
March of this year. At that time the biological parents of Anna Mae were awarded full custody of their daughter. The exact date of the total surrender of the child from the only parents she had ever known had not yet been determined, but visitation was to begin immediately.
What has ensued between the couples over these past 10 months was beginning to look like an amicable situation. However, just when it seemed things might be looking up, there is yet another wrench in the works.
Anna Mae was born to Jack and Casey He, a young Chinese couple that had recently come to the United States so that Jack could pursue a doctorate at the University of Memphis in Tennessee. Several months before Anna's birth a student at the university accused Mr. He of sexually assaulting her on campus. Although he was later acquitted, He lost his position at the university and his student visa was revoked.
Anna was then delivered a month prematurely, and the couple feared they could not meet their financial obligations, their income having now dropped to $400 per month.
The Hes contacted Mid-South Christian Services, an adoption and family services agency and it was through this agency that they met the couple that would soon become the only parents little Anna Mae would know for the next 8 years of her life.
According to the He's they agreed to let Jerry and Louise Baker, a middle class couple already raising a family in Tennessee, to obtain custody of little Anna for 90 days. But when their financial situation didn't improve in the time allotted, the He's weren't ready to take her back, and agreed to sign a consent order awarding custody to the Bakers. An agreement the He's state they only signed so Anna would have medical insurance. According to the Bakers however, both families had agreed at the time the documents were signed that the Bakers would raise Anna Mae through adolescence.
Initially the Baker's allowed the He's to visit with Anna. They last time they were welcomed into the home, however, was on Anna's 2nd birthday. According to the Baker's the He's were disruptive and police had to be called to have them physically removed from the premises. The Baker's then refused any further contact.
The Hes' weekly visits to see Anna Mae became more and more tense. "When [Anna Mae] was having her second birthday, we went to visit her at [the] Bakers' house," said Jack He. "We had agreement to take her to [a photo] studio for picture taking. The Bakers refused. The Bakers called the police to remove us.… Ever since then we could not see our child."
But according to the Bakers, the Hes' were creating a disturbance in their home and the police simply escorted them outside.
A month later the Hes' tried to reclaim Anna, wanting to send her to China to live with family members until they could be reunited. The Bakers were convinced, however, that they could provide a better life for the child and filed a petition to adopt her, and to terminate the Hes' parental rights, alleging willful abandonment.
Thus was the beginning of a 6 year battle for the custody of little Anna Mae.
The Hes' began hanging around the Baker home, at times carrying placards that stated "Mr. Baker, Give me back my child."
In February of 2006 the court placed a restraining order on the Hes' barring them from having any contact, direct or indirect, with Anna Mae.
The case moved through the courts, and in 2004, Tennessee Circuit Judge Robert Childers delivered a devastating blow to the Hes. Childers ruled that the Hes' had abandoned Anna Mae and that she was "in a strongly bonded, deep-seated, healthy relationship with the Baker family." Childers went on to state that "breaking the bond with the Bakers would cause Anna Mae substantial harm and that terminating the Hes' parental rights was in her best interest." Childers ordered that the Hes' parental rights be terminated and gave full custody to the Bakers.
Upon hearing the news, the Bakers cried tears of joy, jumping up and down, elated with the courts decision.
The Hes' however, were once again devastated.
"We could not believe it," said Jack He. "We were shocked.... This is just the beginning of the battle.... We are determined to fight one year, two year, three years, until justice comes."
And fight they did. It took three more years, years in which Anna Mae bonded even more closely with Bakers, and the Hes worried that they might never see their daughter again.
Finally, on Jan. 23, 2007, just five days before Anna Mae's eighth birthday, the Tennessee Supreme Court issued a stunning decision. It determined that the lower courts had erred and that Anna Mae belonged with her biological family.
The Bakers were in shock. They had been totally unprepared for the court's decision, and had been convinced that under no circumstances would a ruling be rendered that took a child from the only home she had ever known, and placed her into the hands of complete strangers.
They struggled with how best to tell Anna Mae that she would have to leave her home to go live with a family she barely knew.
"The night that we told her … she crawled up in my arms," recalled Louise Baker. "And she said, 'Hold me like a baby, Mommy.' And I put her in my arms and held her, and I said, 'I love you, Anna.' She looked up at me and smiled. She said 'I love you, too.' And tears just started rolling down her face."
The transition went poorly in the beginning. Anna refused to sleep in her bed, eat or have anything to do with the Hes' and their other two children. She said she was afraid of ever having to go to China, and thought her new parents would poison her.
The turning point came when Anna drew a picture of two little girls holding hands in a field of flowers. When asked who were the girls in the picture, Anna said it was her and her sister Aimee, the Bakers other daughter.....the only sister Anna had ever known.
And it was through Anna's love of her sister Aimee that the two families slowly found common ground. The Hes' invited Aimee to their home to share meals and have sleepovers.
Last month things had improved to the point that the Baker family was invited to join the Hes' family for a ninth birthday celebration for little Anna Mae. At last, it seemed, things were falling into place, and an understanding and acceptance between the two families had been reached.
Unfortunately this was merely the calm before the storm. The Hes', who had been granted temporary permission to stay in the country until the custody hearings were completed, were facing deportation back to China. Instead of waiting to be deported, they have decided to leave the U.S. voluntarily.
The Bakers had fought for the deportation of the Hes' while embroiled in the years long custody battle.
That fight has now done an about face, as they struggle to find someone, anyone, that will rule against the Hes' being deported. The Hes are planning to leave for China on Feb. 9, and once out of the country, there's no guarantee when, or even if, they can return.
"What we're hoping is that … American people might step up and the Hes should be allowed to remain in the United States," said Jerry Baker. "They should be allowed to earn a decent living.... Our hope is that they will be allowed to return. I truly do believe that you have two mothers that love the same child," said Jerry Baker. "I truly do."
So where do you stand on this issue? Should the courts have given soul custody to the biological parents, or should that custody have remained with the Bakers?
Should the Hes' be allowed to stay in the US with their children, in order for the Bakers to continue to have contact with the little girl they raised as their own for the first 8 years of her life, or should they be deported - illegal aliens that have no right to be in this country?
(You can
view more photos of Anna Mae and her family here, as well as
the letter the Baker's addressed to the courts, following the decision to strip them of custody and return her to the Hes'.
