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2.23.2007

the heartbreaking case of anna mae he

Saw this ABC News segment on the Anna Mae He case the other night... it was absolutely heartbreaking: Custody Battle Gets Desperate. Last month, the state supreme court granted custody of Anna Mae back to her birth parents, ruling that the original judge on the case wrongfully took away their parental rights. What absolutely incenses me about this news segment is that it's really skewed toward the plight of the Bakers. They're obviously desperate over how things have gone, and now they're reaching out to get sympathy and support from national media. The segment showed them playing together as a family, all happy and fun homelife, but now this new ruling is going to split their family apart. What about the Hes? They've been separated from Anna Mae for eight freaking years. How does it feel now?

As I've maintained from the very beginning of all this, like six years ago, the real victim has always been Anna Mae. And now, the 8-year-old completely denies her Chinese heritage (she says she's "Mexican"), because being Chinese represents those who will take her away from the only parents she's ever known. What did the Bakers think would happen? That after all this, Anna Mae's birth parents would just relent, give up and forget about her? It's just a sad situation.

UPDATE: More on the case, and the Bakers' last-ditch desperate media ploy: After custody battle, Chinese girl set to be united with birth parents. I can't believe what they're putting her through—the sidebar ("All Eyes On Anna Mae") is the worst part. There's also an informative timeline of events, for those unfamiliar with the case.