More on the six-year custody battle - what happened to the rights of the child?

The Hes, Bakers & Foster Care
Well-publicized case casts spotlight on the state system that spawned it
Guy, Rosalind. Memphis Daily News, Feb. 19, 2007.

Eight-year-old Anna Mae He, whose name has spawned a media blitz across the country, soon will be reunited with her birth parents, Shaoqiang "Jack" and Qin Luo "Casey" He, despite relentless efforts by her foster family to hold onto her.

In 1998, before Anna Mae was born, her biological parents met with a birth-parent counselor at a local social services agency to seek temporary care for their daughter because they faced legal and financial difficulties, according to court records.

The Hes placed Anna Mae with Jerry and Louise Baker of Cordova. But the Hes expected the arrangement to be temporary, they since have said in court documents and reports about the ordeal.

"My baby was never given away or adopted," Casey He wrote The Daily News in an e-mail this week. "On June 4, 1999, both families signed an agreement called (a) 'temporary custory transfer.'

"Based on two credible witnesses, both families knew that the custody transfer was intended only for a short period of time for the sake of Anna's health insurance coverage. I was grateful to (the) Bakers for covering my baby's health insurance.

"A few months later (November 1999), we came back on our feet and asked the Bakers to return Anna and they refused, citing my failure to pay child support. For seven years, we have been asking the Bakers and the Tennessee courts to return our baby."

But Shelby County Chancellor Robert Childers terminated the Chinese couple's parental rights in 2004 and awarded custody of their daughter to the Bakers. That decision later was upheld by the state Court of Appeals.

About foster care
In Supreme Court papers filed last month that ordered Anna Mae returned to her biological parents, the following information was presented as facts and procedural history of the case:

"The father testified that the parents were seeking social services when they went to Mid-South and did not ask to place their child for adoption. This is consistent with the testimony of the Mid-South counselor, who testified that she discussed with the parents placing (Anna Mae) in foster care through the Tennessee Department of Children's Services, but advised against this option because of the potential 'risks' and 'difficulties.'"

Differentiating this case as either a "foster" or "adoptive" situation is important for one reason. Foster care is meant to be a temporary respite for biological parents to deal with whatever problems are prohibiting them from being able to care for their children properly, even though rare occasions occur in which the foster parent or parents become so attached to the child that they seemingly will do anything to try and prevent him or her from returning to their biological parent or parents, say social workers who work with foster and biological parents.

'The children in the system'
That's why grief and loss are discussed in the classes every person interested in adopting or becoming a foster parent through AGAPE Child & Family Services Inc. must take.

In a continuing Monday night class at the agency, class facilitators Louvadie King and Claire DePriest offer potential foster and adoptive parents an overview of the children "in the system," as well as some of the reasons why those children end up there.

Through discussion and videos, King and DePriest attempt to cover as many issues as possible.

The PATH (Parents as Tender Healers) class is intended to provide a broad overview of the children whom the agency represents, as well as obtaining an in-depth profile of all prospective parents. In this particular class, about 20 people agree they want to have a positive effect on the lives of children who may not have had that to this point.

One of the women in the class went so far as to specify that she wants to take in children who have been exposed to drugs in the womb.

Michelle Miller, director of social services, said it takes a special kind of person to want to offer that kind of love and support.

"I think, for the most part, people want to help children," Miller said. "I think people have a heart for that, and when you start talking about getting people engaged in the lives of kids ... generally people just like helping kids."

For the children
Helping children should be the reason people decide to become foster or adoptive parents in the first place, she said.

"Not to take anything from anybody who wants to be a foster or adoptive parent, but if you come to this because you have some need that you're trying to get met, then foster care probably is not what you need to do," she added.

Of course, the He/Baker case was complicated by issues such as immigration and language barriers, so it's not a direct reflection of the foster care process in general, according to media reports and court documents. Anna Mae's biological mother, Casey, speaks "little English and has used an interpreter throughout these proceedings," according to court documents.

On letting go
AGAPE currently has two PATH classes - the one on Monday night and a Saturday class.

Miller said the agency typically offers about four to five classes throughout the year.

Besides the two classes going on now, a group is scheduled to meet in May and another in September.

But, depending on interest, AGAPE facilitators may offer more classes.

"If we get a ton of people wanting to do this, we are prepared to put on more groups," Miller said, adding that the agency has offered as many as six groups in one year.

Valerie Wright, a foster mother working with AGAPE, offers a view of foster care that reveals the good moments as well as the discouraging ones.

Wright joined AGAPE in 2004 as a foster parent. And she currently has three children, one of whom she is in the process of adopting. The little girl she's adopting is 3 years old and has been with her since May 2005.

The girl could not be named because the adoption is not yet final.

But within the last two years, she's experienced grief over losing a child to whom she had grown very close.

One of the children she took in actually ran away from home. And the two children she first took into her home - a sister and brother - eventually were reunited with their birth mother.

"It was hard," Wright said. "I didn't want to let them go."

But the siblings did leave. Their mother later died in a house fire, so they currently live with their father. But the brother and sister do come back every other weekend to visit.

"Even when they leave my home," she said. "I'm still known as Auntie Valerie."

Miller said the agency works with the foster family and the biological family to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Some families even keep in touch once a child is returned to his or her biological family.

AGAPE: Greek word for love
Besides offering the PATH classes, AGAPE makes available a number of other services for families. In November, AGAPE formed a partnership with the Department of Children's Services (DCS) to offer "family preservation work."

"The part that's different is that these are children who have not been removed from their homes," Miller said. "But there's a threat of it. There's been a child protective services report filed on the family because something's going on."

Together, officials from DCS and AGAPE work with the family to try and stabilize things so the children don't have to be removed.

Typically, the issues that must be addressed are rebellion in the children, children who run away or issues with the adults such as substance abuse.

The program is still relatively new, so it's too soon to judge the overall effectiveness of it just yet. Miller said so far she and the others are seeing good results.

"There are challenges, but they're going to be when you're dealing with families in crisis," she said. "But we're also seeing some really good results."

One of the challenges for the agency, she said, is to make sure the workers are helping to implement real change.

"You don't want it to just be a Band-Aid on the problem for right now and then you pull out and things go back to the way they were before," she said.

The following is a letter sent to The Daily News last week by Jerry Baker, Anna Mae He's foster father. Baker, who says he does not hate the Hes and is certain the letter did not reach the Tennessee Supreme Court as intended, is sorrowful over the court's ruling Jan. 24 to give 8-year-old Anna Mae He back to her biological parents, Shaoqiang "Jack" and Qin Luo "Casey" He. Baker sent the letter to justices Gary M. Wade, Cornelia A. Clark, William M. Barker and Janice M. Holder:

Dear Tennessee Supreme Court Justices,

In your decision, IN RE ADOPTION OF A.M.H., filed January 23, 2007, you stated, and I quote, "Here, the only evidence of substantial harm arises from the delay caused by the protracted litigation and the failure of the court system to protect the parent-child relationship throughout the proceedings. Evidence that A.M.H. will be harmed from a change in custody because she has lived with the Bakers cannot constitute the substantial harm required to prevent the parents from regaining custody." End quote.

After two previous courts had ruled that it was in the child's best interest to remain with the only family she has known, we were shocked at your decision. What happened to (the following)?

"In all cases, when the best interest of the child and those of the adults are in conflict, such conflict shall always be resolved to favor the rights and the best interests of the child, which interests are hereby recognized as constitutionally protected and, to that end; this part shall be literally construed." Tenn. Code Ann. 36-1-101(d)

I would like to take a moment to say that A.M.H. are not just letters of the alphabet.

Those initials stand for an 8-year-old young lady. She is a citizen of the United States by birth. She came into our home and became a part of our family when she was just 3 weeks old. Because of her oval eyes, she is sometimes asked, "What part of China are you from?" She will quickly say, "I am an American from Tennessee."

While the rights of the Bakers and the rights of the Hes were being debated in court after court, a strange thing happened: This infant turned into a toddler and then a young lady. Because we, in an attempt to protect her from the press year after year, never released her photograph, many think of her as a small child unable to make a decision for herself. That could not be further from the truth.

Maybe, had we released a recent photograph, each of you could have seen this for yourself. The court uses initials to protect the child. How ironic is that? If only ... you would have been as interested in protecting her rights as it appears you were the adults in this case. If only it was each of you who had to sit down with this beautiful young lady and explain to her why after years and years and courts after courts she must endure what is to happen next.

Please explain to her that even though the evidence clearly indicated in two previous courts that a change in custody would constitute substantial harm, each of you feel that because the harm was brought about by the courts themselves, it does not count.

Let me assure each of you that the trauma caused by this life-altering event will be with this young lady and her 7-year-old sister (Aimee Baker) the remainder of their lives.

I would like to invite each of you ... supreme beings to our home the day (Anna Mae) is to leave. I hope to be standing nearby 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 tissues for her, as it is a long way to China.

Maybe ... you could chip in and purchase a book or tape on how to speak and understand Chinese. I would hate to think (the Hes) 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.

Since you directed the juvenile court on what it must do, it seems that now another court will have to operate with hands behind its back. Or maybe I should say with hands covering its eyes and ears.

If only this court would call this young lady into its chambers and ask her, "In what country do you want to live? With what family would you prefer to stay?"

We are told there is little chance the Supreme Court of the United States will hear a family law case. Now we're praying that Americans will rise up together and in a loud voice scream, "When rights of the child conflict with those of adults, the rights of the adults should be secondary!"

Only then might the Supreme Court of the United States consider this appeal.

To the Tennessee justices who made this decision, I would like to say, "A.M.H. stands for Anna Mae He! She is more than letters on paper."

Attached is a photograph of both Anna and Aimee. Please look into their eyes. All of us involved in this case deserve to see those faces every time we close our eyes for the rest of our lives.

Sincerely,
Jerry Baker
Father of Anna and Aimee