China Adoption, Chinese Infant Adoption - Nashville-Chinese Birth Parent Case: Still News.

02/22/07

Nashville-Chinese Birth Parent Case: Still News.

Posted by : grant in China Adoption Blog at 06:13 am , 358 words, 149 views
Categories: Domestic Red Tape, Academic Studies & Personal Memoirs

Hands. From Michelangelo. Public domain image from wikipedia. But Michelangelo painted 'em. They sure are emotive hands, aren't they?

If you remember the case of Anna Mae He, the not-quite adopted girl who's been officially given back to her biological parents, it's back in the news again. The Nashville City Paper, to be specific.

The custodial family (is that the right word?) is somewhat less sanguine about events than it at first appeared.

Before he hands the girl he has come to know as his daughter back over to her birth parents, Jerry Baker has one request of the five State Supreme Court Justices who have required him to do so — come over and help.

In an impassioned letter to the members of the state’s highest court — in which he implores the court to reconsider the decision that ordered eight-year-old Anna Mae He back to the custody of her birth parents, Jack and Casey He — Baker asks the justices to come over to his home on the day the custody transfer is to happen.

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In the letter, the (custodial) father really speaks his mind:

Let me assure each of you that the trauma caused by this life-altering event will be with this young lady and her seven-year-old sister the remainder of their lives.

I would like to invite each of you five supreme beings to our home the day she is to leave. I hope to be standing near by as you fasten her seatbelt so I can hear your response when asked, “When will I get to come home?” I might suggest you bring a large box of tissue for her as it is a long way to China. Maybe the five of you could chip in and purchase a book or tape on how to speak and understand Chinese. I would hate to think they might send her back to China alone like they did their son years earlier. I see no need for a van. Space on the plane will not allow for many personal items.

The case is currently back in court, as judges decide how exactly the handover will take place.

I'd hate to be the one figuring that out.

I expect this isn't the last we hear of this story.

5 comments

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: Deb Donatti [Member]

· http://open.adoptionblogs.com

While I do not care for the way these never quite adoptive parents began this whole process, I do wish that NOW someone would ask this young lady what SHE wants.
My guess is she wants to stay where she has been and no doubt get to know and spend time with her birthfamily too.
So sad that all the adults seem to understand is the battle of "possesion" over this child. They see winners and lossers (in context of themselves), but the biggest loser is this poor child and I do not think anyone even cares about that anymore.

Permalink 02/22/07 @ 08:21

Comment from: John [Member]

You are right Deb. The problem is, the first judge in 2003 did apply 'Best Intrests of the Child'. The TN supreme court castigated that judge for his audacity to fail to apply the supreme court's favored model, 'Intrests of the Birth Family Only'.

The little girl will pay the price for this decision. I suspect the He family will find they have a tiger by the tail. They caused the disruption and the child knows it. Children can be very skilled at exracting revenge.

Doesn't it seem odd that the mom had eight years and never bothered to learn english, the only language the little girl knows? Great mom huh. Dad does abrasive and agressive well, wonder how he does caring.

The other victims are the TN kids needing homes. These right thinking judges put their state right at the top of a very short lis of states that are percived to be hostile to adoption. How are child workers supposed to do their jobs when no prospective family wants to be 'Bakered'?

Permalink 02/23/07 @ 00:50

Comment from: atlasien [Member]

On the contrary, I believe the Baker's action did great harm to children in the TN foster care system waiting for adoption. The Bakers could have adopted a child that really and truly needed a home. Instead, they manipulated the Hes and tried to steal a child that already had loving parents. Are the Hes perfect? No. But do you need to be perfect to be allowed to keep your children?

The match was not made by an agency or the state... the Hes came to the Bakers themselves, and trusted them as fellow Christians to be temporary guardians for their daughter in their time of need. Their trust was sadly misplaced. The Bakers have actually been BRAGGING to the media about how well they've taught Anna Mae to hate and fear everything that looks Chinese. What's her life going to be like if she stays with the Bakers and starts looking at herself in the mirror?

The Bakers give a bad name to good foster parents, good adoptive parents and good Christians. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Permalink 02/23/07 @ 17:12

Comment from: Shennong [Member]

About that little stunt the Bakers pulled to get media coverage for Anna Mae - according to USA Today, Jerry Baker was paying Anna Mae $5 for each question that she answered in front of the cameras for ABC News. Who knows if the Bakers had actually "coached" her on the "correct" answers. Jerry Baker even pressed her to answer whether she wants her last name to be "He" or "Baker" - a question that she refused to answer.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-02-20-custody-battle_x.htm

If we are to shift gear, completely defenestrate parental rights, and look only at what's best for Anna Mae, let's ask, is it really in her best interest to let her continue to stay with the Bakers? These are parents who have made borderline racist arguments about Chinese people and Chinese culture; these are parents who have no qualms about parading Anna Mae in front of national news saying she's Mexican, when she's Chinese.

Permalink 02/23/07 @ 19:34

Comment from: John [Member]

The lasting damage to TN kids needing homes is the judgement handed down by the TN Supreme Court. That judgement, not the Bakers or the Hes, is a declaration that 'Best Intrests of the Child' will not be applied in that State.

Prospective families can read too, they can easily avoid one state. It will take years for the damage to dissapate.

It is unlikely that either family could have anticipated such a bizzare and damaging ruling. The court could have easily endorsed Best Intrests and carved out a one time exception for the Hes.

Anyone who thinks that forcing a disrupt of an eight year placement is not that big a deal needs to adopt a child who has been through that. That child's life is going to come apart, at least from her perspective.

Permalink 02/24/07 @ 00:11

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