After 7-Year Custody Fight, Family to Return to China

Dec. 17, 2007 — -- Just as she's adjusting to her new family after seven years at the center of a bitter custody dispute, 8-year-old Anna Mae He is facing another wrenching change: She and her biological parents must soon leave the country she's known all her life and return to China.

Earlier this year, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that Anna Mae should return to her biological parents after living in Memphis with an American couple who raised her since she was an infant.

She left the home of Jerry and Louise Baker — the only home she'd ever known — four months ago and moved in with her biological parents, Jack and Casey He, and her biological brother and sister, whom she'd never met.

Now, as she adapts to her new life — learning to use an abacus and to speak Chinese — she faces the even more daunting prospect of moving to a new country.

"When she came back to us, she was surprised to find out she has Chinese parents," Jack He told ABC News. "She was even more surprised to have a Chinese brother and sister. So at that time, five or six months ago, she was very fearful of China."

Jack He's visa was revoked in 1999 and a judge only allowed the Hes to stay in the country while they fought for custody of Anna Mae. Now that the court battle is over, the Hes have decided to leave voluntarily and try to get a visa to return.

Though Anna Mae is an American citizen, she must stay with her family until she turns 18.

"There are only two choices basically for us since our visa expired," said Jack He, who works as a janitor at his church. "Number one is called forced deportation. That means to my understanding that the deportation officer could knock on the door at any time and yank us out of the house. That would be terrifying for the kids."

Jack He said he has spent the last few months trying to teach Anna Mae, who has not seen the Bakers since moving in with her biological parents, about her heritage and help her adjust to being Chinese. Anna Mae still sees the Bakers' daughter, Aimee.

Under a court-monitored reunification plan, Anna Mae has been going to a local Chinese school, where she is studying Mandarin and Cantonese and learning the abacus. Her parents have borrowed DVDs and books about China to prepare her for the trip and, her father says, to rid her of her fear of Chinese food and culture.

"She used to think she's a Mexican about seven months ago," Jack He said. "Some time ago, she was very fearful of a country far away. She thought female babies could be raped, hung upside down."

"Anna was totally lost," he said.

The Hes put Anna Mae in what they said was temporary foster care with the Bakers when she was nearly a month old. They fought for seven years to reunify with their daughter.

The Bakers had argued that the Hes had agreed to let Anna Mae live with them until she was 18 years old and, in 2004, a state court granted them parental rights over Anna Mae, a decision that was upheld in the lower courts. Then, in January, the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed that decision, ordering that Anna Mae be returned to her biological parents.

The news that Anna may go to China with her family is yet another heartbreak for the Bakers, who have always held out hope that they might be able to see the little girl they raised as their own.

"It was distressing to hear that Anna has to go to China and be uprooted once again," Jerry Baker told ABC News. "We have always hoped there could be some regular contact between our two families. We would do anything we could to help the He's stay in this country."

The Bakers have not seen Anna since the court ordered her to leave their home and move in with her biological family. To ease the transition, Jack He has arranged for the Baker's daughter, Aimee – who is just a year younger than Anna and who always thought of her as her big sister – to come visit Anna at the He's home in Memphis. Aimee recently told the Bakers that "all she wants for Christmas is for Anna to come home."

Jack He came to the United States in 1995 on a student visa to pursue a doctoral degree in economics at the University of Memphis. After a student filed a complaint against him for attempted rape, he lost his job as a graduate assistant and his scholarship. He was later cleared of the charges.

Unable to legally work without his student visa, He has made ends meet by working as a janitor at his local church. He agreed to leave the country after the custody battle was over.

Now, the church is helping He. The Rev. LaSimba Grey of New Sardis Baptist Church plans to hold a fundraiser today to raise $10,000 to send the Hes back to China.

"As soon as they get back, we're going to start the process to get them back to America," Grey said.

When the church does, Jack He has big plans for his daughter.

"Hopefully, she'll go to Stanford or Yale," he said.