Anna Mae He to China

February 10, 2008 permalink

Anna Mae He is nine years old. Her parents spent almost all of her life litigating to get her back from a foster family that adopted the girl, until the supreme court of Tennessee overturned the adoption. She has now gone back to China with her true family.

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Anna Mae He Boards Plane to China with Birth Parents

Posted by Stephanie Scurlock, Posted: Feb 9, 2008 05:35 PM

FAST FACTS:

• Jack and Casey He allow Jerry and Louise Baker to keep infant daughter, Anna
• Struggle for custody ends in Tennessee Supreme Court awarding child to birth parents
• Hes leave Memphis for China after order from immigration judge

stephanie.scurlock@wreg.com

MEMPHIS (02/11/2008)-An important chapter in the saga of Anna Mae He comes to a close today. She left on a plane headed for china with her birth parents.

Since she was just months old Anna lived with her American foster parents, Jerry and Louise Baker. They fought to keep and adopt her but the Tennessee State Supreme court gave custody to her birth parents, Jack and Casey He. Anna was reunited with them this summer. This Saturday, they returned to China.

9 year old Anna Mae He, her brother and sister, and the parents that gave birth to her arrive at the Memphis airport for a 22 hour trip to China. The little girl who was caught in a custody battle for years has a lot of questions about her new home. You can tell when her mother says they're going on vacation, Anna is very much aware the move is more permanent.

Anna says, "A vacation is like 2 or 1 week. That's going to be a long time. That's not a vacation!"

Her father says she has mixed feelings about the move.

Jack He said, "On one hand she feels that she's happy to be with her family. She's very comfortable with her Mom and Dad. On the other hand, she's a little bit nervous about Chinese."

Anna doesn't speak Chinese and until just recently hasn't been exposed to a lot of Chinese culture. Family friends who've made the trip to China before, showed up at the airport to try and ease her fears. Anna is worried about going to a new school and meeting new friends. She'll also meet her grandparents for the first time.

Jack He said, "My parents they are in their 80's. They have been looking forward to seeing their grandchildren so they've been waiting for this day a long time."

The Hes are going to China because an immigration judge gave them until May to voluntarily leave or else they'd be deported. Coming back to the U.S. would be difficult. They didn't' want that because the hope is to return one day with Anna.

Jack He says he is grateful for everything people in Memphis have done to help him, especially his church, New Sardis Baptist Church.

Source: WREG TV Memphis

Addendum: Here is a Yahoo news video on the same case.