Almost one year ago to the day, 8Asians.com blogged about a real-life version of the movie Losing Isiah – a seven year old girl had been adopted since infancy, but was returned to her Chinese parents. The parents claimed they never intended to give her up for adoption but as a necessity due to “financial and legal hardships they faced at the time.”
Angry Asian Man has since linked to a follow-up to the story of eight year old Anna Mae He, who will now be moving to China with her family due to her father’s expired student visa.
“We always wanted custody to move back to China as a family,” Mr. He said.
An immigration judge agreed four years ago to delay ruling on the Hes’ immigration status, but Mr. He said that decision could come anytime now.
“If deported, we might never come back again,” Mr. He said. “With a voluntary departure, we don’t get an order.”
Jeez, I don’t know how to feel about this. Like, imagine that you’re seven years old, being raised in a [presumably] relatively stable Memphis home but with a pair of parents that look different from you. Imagine that those adoptive parents have talked trash about “those horrible people that want to take you away from us,” maybe some additional racist stuff for the sake of this dramatization being like a bad TV Movie. Now imagine that you’re ripped from that family and thrown into a second family, being told those are your real parents, and surprise! You’re going to move to China, where everyone knows the language and the culture, except for you. That’s pretty traumatic for an eight year old, and I hope she adjusts quickly for her sake.
