6-2-2004

Statement of American Family Rights Association
Regarding the Jack and Casey He case in Tennessee

It is a basic human right and responsibility for parents to provide the care and upbringing of their children without state interference, unless the parents are guilty of serious abuse or unfitness. The United States Supreme Court has confirmed this right in dozens of cases over the last century.

The He family of Tennessee has been deprived of the right to raise their own daughter by the Memphis Chancery Court, because they sought help with their parenting from a private agency, Mid-South Christian Services, at a difficult time in their lives. They believed they were helping their child when they sought temporary care for her, and could recover custody at any point by petitioning the court.

However, when they tried to get their child back, the court, namely Judge Robert Childers, not only took away custody of their child, but also their fundamental parental rights and awarded it to the child's foster family, based on "abandonment". The basic reason for that decision, after boiling it all down, was because the child allegedly had a better "bond" with the foster family than she did with her parents.

The best interest of an ethnic child cannot be satisfied merely by a family who is willing to love, care and adopt the child. Ethnicity and culture has proven to be so complex and so deeply woven into the fabric of a child's identity that in the long-run, denying and detaching it from the child can result in grave problems. AHM will always know she is different from her adoptive family and as in other countries with large immigrant populations, she will suffer prejudice and may not have the tools necessary to deal with this prejudice. This has been shown in the black culture as stated in in T Perry “Race and Child Placement: The Best Interests Test and the Cost of Discretion” (1991) 29(1) Journal of Family Law 51 at 112, note 209.

The Multiplacement Treatment Act (PL 103-382) was passed in order that the large amount of black children who languished in foster care in the United States be adopted into permanent homes. It was during this public law that ethnicity and race were not to be considered when placing a child in an adoptive home.

However, in AMH's case, ethnicity and culture should have been regarded since black children in American foster homes are already assimilated into American culture. AMH, on the other hand comes from Chinese parents and will be cut off from this culture in her present placement situation. As is stated in Interethnic Adoption Provision, "the Public agencies may not routinely consider race, national origin and ethnicity in making placement decisions. Any consideration of these factors must be done on an individualized basis where special circumstances indicate that their consideration is warranted. A practice of assessing all children for their needs in this area would be inconsistent with an approach of individually considering these factors only when specific circumstances indicate that it is warranted." (PL-104-188)

In modern family and juvenile courts, state child protection agencies now remove and keep children from families for many flimsy reasons, including that the parents sought help from these very agencies. If a parent needs help with fulfilling their parental duties, and turns to a social services agency, (or private party) that agency often turns on them and takes their children, much like what has happened in this case.

AMH will be denied the contact with her biological siblings. She will be denied the emergence of her native language, customs and culture. With new adoption laws allowing children of maturity to seek out their biological parents and family, AMH will be an outcast because she will be void of the culture her siblings, parents and blood relatives.

AMH will suffer cultural death only to her detriment while her adoptive family will enjoy a built-in playmate to their new biological child.

The American Family Rights Association (AFRA) is comprised of groups and individuals who seek to stop government from improperly harming families under the pretext of helping them. AFRA supports the right of the He family to the care and custody of their young daughter, and strongly opposes the Memphis Court's decision to terminate their parental rights.