Foster parents say girl is near breakdown over reunion

MEMPHIS, TENN. —  Foster parents who lost a seven-year custody fight are trying to delay the girl’s court-ordered reunion with her biological parents by arguing that she is on the brink of an emotional breakdown.

Biological parents Shaoqiang “Jack” He and Qin Luo “Casey” He contend that the foster parents, Jerry and Louise Baker, are desperate to derail the Hes’ long-awaited reunion with 8-year-old Anna Mae He, who has lived with the Bakers since she was an infant.

Tennessee’s Supreme Court ruled in January that Anna Mae had to be returned to the Hes, illegal immigrants from China who put her in what was supposed to be temporary foster care in 1999 because of financial hardships.

On Thursday, the court rejected a petition from the Bakers, who sought to stop the reunion by arguing that the child was being traumatized by having to leave the only family she had known.

“Our sweet, loving little girl is full of anger and hatred. She is crying and yelling that nobody understands her,” Louise Baker said in filings with the Supreme Court and a companion pleading with the Juvenile Court in Memphis, which is charged with overseeing the He family reunion.

The Juvenile Court petition asks for psychiatric care for Anna Mae and includes excerpts from Louise Baker’s journal describing the child’s reaction to recent court-ordered visits with her biological parents.

Juvenile Court Judge Curtis Person, upset by public disclosure of journal entries, sealed all records in the case Wednesday and issued a gag order for the Bakers, the Hes and their lawyers.

The journal is “counterproductive to the eventual reunification of the minor child with her natural parents,” Person said in his order.

Person has appointed a psychologist and a lawyer to coordinate Anna Mae’s transition from the Bakers to the Hes.

Before Person issued the gag order, the Hes’ lawyer, David Siegel, accused the Bakers of attempting to stir public sentiment and “inject their own psychologist into what has otherwise been a very peaceful transition.”