1. A Tug of War Over Anna Mae He.
- Author
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Lipton, Michael A. and Sandler, Barbara
- Subjects
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ACTIONS & defenses (Law) , *CUSTODY of children , *GUARDIAN & ward , *ADOPTION , *PARENTS , *CHILDREN , *DESERTION & non-support - Abstract
The article reports on the custody battle between two families over a 5-year-old girl, Anna Mae He, in Memphis, Tennessee. In the suburban Memphis home of her guardians Jerry and Louise Baker, Anna Mae He is a typically energetic 5-year-old: When she's not romping with Aimee, 4, the youngest of the Bakers' four children, she's drawing, reading, doing puzzles and singing favorite songs like "Jesus Loves Me." Ten miles away in the one-bedroom apartment of Anna Mae's biological parents, Jack and Casey He, the only traces of their little girl are photos on tables and taped to the walls. They have been barred by a judge from even contacting their eldest child while awaiting the outcome of a furious battle with the Bakers, who agreed to take in their child while the Hes battled financial and legal problems in the first days of Anna Mae's life. "They told us, 'It is God's will for us to help you. We are Christian families,'" says Jack He, 39, who met the Bakers through a church-affiliated adoption agency. "'When you get back on your feet, you can have your child back.'" That statement is just one of many being hotly disputed in a case filled with claims of deception and abandonment now before circuit court judge Robert Childers in Memphis. At the crux of the matter: whether the custody arrangement reached by the families was temporary, as the Hes insist, or valid until Anna Mae becomes an adult, as claimed by the Bakers.
- Published
- 2004