One of the reasons most folks decide to adopt from China is because there (thanks to the One-Child Policy and a host of other, less noticeable reasons), one doesn't run into any funny business with what the professionals call "termination of parental rights."

Except, well, the Washington Post says it *can* happen.

The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a 7-year-old girl raised by an American couple since infancy must be returned to her Chinese parents, who say they never intended to give her up for adoption.

Shaoqiang He, a 42-year-old restaurant manager in Memphis, said he will probably return to China with his family after a transition period for Anna Mae He. She turns 8 on Sunday and has spent all but the first three weeks of her life with foster parents Jerry and Louise Baker.

Of course, this isn't exactly the same thing. In fact, this seems like a very rare set of circumstances as far as Chinese adoptions go. It's really a domestic American foster care case (where these things happen more than most people like to imagine) that happens to involve Chinese people:

He and his wife, Qin Luo, 37, met the Bakers through the church both families attended. Financial and legal hardships prompted the Hes to place their newborn in the Bakers' care, He said, adding that another church member who ran an adoption agency had vouched for the couple and described them as experienced, loving foster parents. The Hes visited Anna, her father said, but relations turned ugly when they asked for her return at the age of 2.

"We did not give up custody," He said.

An 8-year-old??? The case has been making news -- in China, atleast -- since the girl was 5.

But now an American judge has sided against returning little Anna Mae He to the Hes', and ruled she should stay with her foster family - parents and four siblings who love and value her.

Circuit Court Judge Robert Childers' decision, though, has outraged some Chinese-American groups who feel he has been unfair. Indeed, the trial was watched closely by Chinese-Americans and Chinese diplomats attended the early hearings to ensure the Hes received fair treatment.

And it's getting lots of play on the newswires now, and likely for a while to come:

The state's highest court says a young Chinese girl at the center of a seven-year custody fight must rejoin her biological family, but that can't happen overnight, both sides in the dispute said Wednesday.

"We want to do it quickly, but we want to do it in a way that protects the child," said David Siegel, the natural parents' lawyer.

"Natural parents"? Hmm.

I think not. But then I wouldn't.

Now almost 8 years old, Anna Mae must leave the only family she has known to rejoin her parents and their two younger children who are strangers to her.

Shaoqiang He, who came to the United States to attend college, said son Andy, 6, and Avita, 4, are eager to get to know Anna Mae.

"They're excited," he said. "They said they're going to teach their big sister how to speak Chinese."

The Juvenile Court in Memphis is under orders to draw up a planto reunite Anna Mae with her natural parents, but the Supreme Court set no timetable for the reunion, which likely will begin with short visits that grow in length.