Anna He is nervous about moving to China today. She can barely count to 10 in Chinese. How can she make friends when she doesn't speak the language? What about the friends she is leaving behind?How will a child who looks Chinese but grew up American with Hannah Montana, Game Boy and Webkinz cope in a Communist country? Jack and Casey He are worried for their 9-year-old daughter, too, but they don't have a choice. They agreed to depart the United States after the custody case involving their oldest child was resolved.
That happened last year. The Tennessee Supreme Court overturned a state court ruling and returned the child to her parents. The reunification was completed at the end of the summer. Last month, a federal immigration judge gave the Hes until May to voluntarily leave the United States.
This week, they packed 10 years' worth of American living, blue jeans, shirts, shoes, photographs and toys into three suitcases. They will spend 22 hours on airplanes beginning this morning, to Detroit, Tokyo and then Beijing.
The Chinese nationals are leaving the country voluntarily with their three American-born children in the hope they can come back. Andy, 7, and Avita, 5, were also born in Memphis.
Jack and Casey have been here without status while they fought through the court system to regain custody of their eldest daughter from Jerry and Louise Baker, who had raised Anna since she was a month old.
The Bakers, who live in Cordova, agreed in 1999 to foster the child after the Hes faced financial and legal trouble. The Hes continued to visit Anna weekly for nearly two years while she was with the Bakers.
Casey packed up photographs Thursday of some of those visits. For years, pictures were all she had of her daughter.
Baby Anna in her mother's arms.
A toddler in white overalls on Christmas sitting near Jack and Casey.
The Bakers fell in love with Anna. They said the Hes agreed to let them raise Anna until she was 18. The Hes said they didn't and tried several times to get their child back.
The struggle for custody turned ugly after Anna's second birthday. The Hes filed a petition for her to be returned. The Bakers asked the court to terminate the Hes' parental rights.
Local courts continued to rule against the Hes as the years went on. The Hes weren't allowed to see Anna. They missed six years of birthdays. Anna grew up calling the Bakers "Mommy" and "Daddy." It was their four children she regarded as her brother and sisters.
The Hes' parental rights were terminated in 2004 after a trial in state court. The State Supreme Court overturned that ruling a year ago last month and ordered the reunification of Anna with her natural parents. The Bakers appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case.
Anna spent months meeting with the Hes and a child psychologist. At first she was angry, but by the end of the summer she moved from the Bakers' home to the Hes' Cordova apartment. She has slowly learned to adjust. She laughs and plays a lot and is learning to eat Chinese food. She now calls Jack "Baba" - Chinese for "Daddy" - and she calls Casey "Mama."
Last month, the Hes allowed the Baker family to come to Anna's 9th birthday party at the Memphis Zoo. The ground rules: The Bakers couldn't refer to themselves as "Mommy and Daddy." And they couldn't cry.
"My father didn't come because he didn't think he could see Anna and not cry," the Bakers' son, Jerry, said Friday.
They were grateful to get to see Anna and that their daughter, Aimee, who was inseparable from Anna while they grew up, was able to spend time with her.
"They held hands the whole time," Jerry said. "They love each other."
Dr. Ashok Kara, a psychologist who has counseled the He family since the reunification, said the family shouldn't be forced to leave the United States .
"Because of American rules, and American injustice, this girl will suffer," Kara said. "Why should she have to pay for the fact that her parents have to return to China? She is an American. The government should protect her. The least America should do, after all they've been through, is to have a green card waiting for them in Beijing for Jack to return here and work so Anna can stay with her parents and live in America."
Jack said he has a job lined up in his hometown of Hunan to teach at a university. He hopes to get Anna a scholarship to attend an international school where English is spoken.
He wants to return to America and hopes an American company will sympathize with their plight and offer him a job.
"Memphis is my second home," He said. "My church (New Sardis Baptist) is here. My children were born here. We all have connections here. We hope to come back."
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