A Tennessee Supreme Court decision made Tuesday reinforces parental custody rights in the state.
The court ruled that eight-year-old Anna Mae He of Memphis must leave the only family she’s ever known – the Bakers – to live with her biological parents who are Chinese. This overturned lower court decisions that had terminated custody rights. The state’s highest court deemed that the He’s had been confused by the American legal system and were seemingly tricked into violating a four-month failure to visit rule that can lead to custody termination.
Bob Tuke is a Nashville adoption attorney who consulted with the Baker family on their fight for permanent custody. He says the nearly eight-year battle shows a failure in the court system to reach speedy decisions. But he says there’s also an all-too-common emphasis on the rights of parents and disregard for what’s best for the child.
“What the court sometimes forgets is that child has constitutional rights as well, and I would just love to see a court for once say that a child’s constitutional rights to a steady home…that that interest is recognized as well and discussed, and this court doesn’t even begin to address it.”
Court documents show that Anna Mae spending nearly all of her life living with the Bakers did not have much bearing on the decision.
Anna Mae could return to her family in less than two weeks. Attorneys say the two families will cooperate in raising Anna Mae. The Baker family does have the option to appeal to the U-S Supreme Court.
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