[MamaS]

Here is what happened to the little girl whose biological parents got custody back after eight years in an adoptive home:

The Associated Press: Child in US custody fight adjusts to new country

[WizardofOz]

I don't know what how the story with Anna He continues but it reminded me of a very similar story that happened in Israel in 1988.

A little girl was adopted from Brazil by an Israeli couple. The girl's biological mother traced her daughter to Israel after the infant's abduction by a babysitter in 1986.

The Israeli court found that the little girl, Bruna Vasconcelos, who was 2 at the time, had indeed been kidnapped and under court order, she flew back to Brazil with her natural mother, Rosalida Goncalves. The judge in Israel had no choice, IMHO, since the baby was indeed kidnapped.

The BBC, making a documentary about widespread baby-trafficking in Brazil, paid for Miss Goncalves to pursue her daughter to Israel and then sue for her return in the Israeli Supreme Court. The BBC made a huge deal of the story, it was generally felt in the Israeli public that the BBC "enjoyed" this case and pushed to the outcome of the daughter being returned to her biological mother.

What the BBC never did was a follow-up 15 years later! The worldwide public who was eagerly following the reunification of little Bruna and her mother would not have liked to know the reality behind the story.

In reality, the biological mother had an unstable life style, was with many men and neglected her children. Bruna's father, who promised the court to provide a "good stable home" for the child, left very soon after she was returned to Brazil.

Bruna's mother kicked her out of her house when she was only 13(!) years old. Bruna was living on the streets and had her son when she was 15.

The Israeli TV invited her and her son to Israel when she was 18 and interviewed her. Bruna had a big scar on her face and sounded very fatalistic about her whole life. She said that it must have been her destiny to live in Brazil. When she confronted her mother about her situation, all the mother did was say "sorry".

IMHO, the morale from this story is that while a biological parents definitely has a right on a child, the best interest of the child overrides that right. (Duh).

In Bruna's case, although the child was kidnapped, I think that if the BBC had not encouraged the biological mother to go out on a crusade but had rather kept low profile, it is possible that the mother would have settled somehow with the adoptive parents (even if this means paying some "charity" to the mother of whatchama call it...). The child, who was doing GREAT in the adoptive home, would have grown up in a loving and stable home instead of being thrown to the streets at the age of 13.

Anna's case reminds me a bit of Bruna in the sense that the parents split up as soon as they reach China and the mother seems to be overwhelmed in general. I only wish that her story will take a happier end than Bruna's but I am not so optimistic. Court systems can be overly eager in regarding biological bonds and I think Anna's case, too, is an example where the wrong decision has been made by the court.

[HappyTwinsMom]

My heart breaks for that little girl.