Jerry and Louise Baker filed their appeal request May 10 to the nation's highest court, asking it to block a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that ordered the reunion of 8-year old Anna Mae He with parents Shaoqiang and Qin Luo He. He's case was reported earlier
U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens refused last week to delay the reunion pending consideration of the Bakers' appeal request.
In their petition, the Bakers, who took Anna Mae into their home when she was less than a month old, contend the reunion order violates the youngster's "fundamental constitutional liberty right not to be forced by a court to suffer substantial harm." The Bakers contend that removing her from the only family she has known will harm her emotionally.
After a seven-year custody fight through the state courts, the state Supreme Court ruled in January that the Hes put their first-born child in temporary foster care in 1999 to get medical insurance they could not afford and lost custody because of an ignorance of American law. The state Supreme Court overturned a ruling by a Memphis judge who took away the Hes' parental rights in 2004 on grounds of abandonment, opening the way for the Bakers to adopt Anna Mae. (Source: International Herald Tribune, May 30, 2007)