U.S. Couple Fights to Adopt Chinese Girl
Cultures Clash in American Couple's Fight to Adopt Chinese Girl Over Her Parents' Objections
The Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. March 9 — An American couple trying to adopt a Chinese girl over the objections of her parents say she will have a better life in Memphis than she ever could in China. 

Here, 5-year-old Anna Mae He lives in a comfortable suburban home with Jerry and Louise Baker, who have raised her since she was a baby. In China, girls are unwanted and treated as second-class citizens, the Bakers say.

This suggestion that Anna Mae cannot have a decent life in China offends the Chinese and Chinese-Americans who have been following the custody fight. It has also exposed the culture clash at the center of the four-year dispute.

"I grew up in a two-room apartment with four siblings and my parents," said Jinliang Cai of the Greater Memphis United Chinese Association. "And I think my parents did a great job raising us."

Anna Mae's parents have been trying since May 2000 to get their child back. Her mother, Qin Luo He, says rich Americans and their lawyers stole her daughter.

The Bakers accuse the Hes of dishonesty and emotional instability and worry about Anna Mae being taken to China. But one academic specialist on China said the Bakers have a limited understanding of Chinese life.

"They think China is dirty and diseased and this child is not going to go to Disneyland and have Reebok tennis shoes," said John F. Copper, a professor of international studies at Rhodes College of Memphis.

The Bakers' lawyer said during a trial over the past two weeks that Anna Mae could wind up living in a small, crowded apartment in China with a host of relatives.

"The Chinese would feel very different," Copper said. "Being in a crowded apartment is not necessarily a bad thing and being with relatives is a good thing."

Judge Robert Childers heard testimony on a request from the Bakers to nullify the Hes' parental rights on grounds of abandonment. Lawyers will make closing arguments March 22, and Childers will have a month to rule.

Most days, the trial drew dozens of Chinese spectators from the Memphis area. The Chinese embassy sent two representatives for its beginning.

The Hes' troubles started when Anna Mae's father, Shaoqiang He, a graduate student at the University of Memphis, was accused of sexual assault by a female student in 1998.

He was acquitted, but the university took away his scholarship and living stipend, and the government revoked his student visa and started deportation proceedings.

The Hes found jobs in Chinese restaurants, but worried they could not support their newborn child. They turned to Mid-South Christian Services, a private adoption agency.

The Bakers volunteered to be Anna Mae's temporary foster parents in February 1999. She was only a few weeks old, and the Bakers have had her ever since.

The Hes say their ignorance of the law and Qin Luo He's inability to speak English allowed them to be tricked into signing away legal custody of Anna Mae in 1999. He said they thought they were signing papers to get Anna Mae covered by the Baker's medical insurance.

The Bakers' lawyer, Larry Parrish, said the Hes could have sought legal advice.

But Copper said most Chinese have little contact with courts and lawyers. "There are probably more lawyers in one square mile of New York City than in all of China," he said.

Called to the Baker residence because of an argument over Anna Mae in January 2001, police told the Hes to leave and not come back. They had not seen Anna Mae since then, until a brief meeting last year when a court-appointed psychologist got them together with their daughter and the Bakers.