Published: April 24, 2006 08:29 pm         

State high court to hear Chinese custody appeal

MEMPHIS — A Chinese couple who have sought for six years to get back the daughter they put in foster care as an infant will have their pleas heard by Tennessee's highest court, the state Supreme Court said Monday.

Shaoquiang and Qin Luo He want to regain custody of 7-year-old Anna Mae, who has lived with an American couple, Jerry and Louise Baker, since she was 3 weeks old.

The Bakers are trying to adopt Anna Mae, but the Hes, who face deportation, say they don't want to go back to China without their first-born child.

At issue are legal questions surrounding Tennessee custody laws, the meaning of parental abandonment and the rights of biological parents versus those of foster parents.

The Hes are appealing a decision by a Memphis judge in 2003 that terminated their parental rights, on the grounds of abandonment, and cleared the way for Anna Mae's adoption. The ruling attracted the attention of the Chinese embassy in Washington and drew criticism as ethnically biased.

The decision was upheld last year by the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

In accepting the appeal, the Supreme Court rejected the Bakers' attempts to have it dismissed. No date was immediately set for arguments.

"I'm very happy," Mrs. He said when told the high court would consider the appeal. "I'm good mother. I'm not drink, not smoking, not drugs. I'm waiting for Anna Mae back."

The Hes, who had little knowledge of American law, say they were unaware their daughter could be permanently taken away when they put her in private foster care because of financial hardships. They filed their first court petition to regain custody in May 2000.

The Bakers say they are the only parents Anna Mae has known and taking her away would be emotionally traumatic for her.

They argue the Hes wanted to give her away and have prolonged the custody fight to stay in the United States. They also contend Anna Mae would have a better life with them in the United States than with her biological family in China.

A phone call to the Bakers' lawyer was not immediately returned.

Anna Mae was born in 1998 when her father was a student at the University of Memphis. He lost a scholarship because of a sexual assault charge for which he ultimately was acquitted.

The Hes now have two other children, a boy and a girl.

The Memphis judge said the Hes abandoned their first child by failing to visit her for four months. The Hes argue their efforts to see Anna Mae were rebuffed by the Bakers and the state courts.

"Termination of parental rights is the legal equivalent of the death penalty as far as a parent-child relationship is concerned," said David Siegel, a lawyer for the Hes. "We think this is an important case for the court to consider."