ORGANIZATION OF CHINESE AMERICANS, INC.
Greater Seattle Chapter

Chapter (OCA-GS) Filed an Amicus Brief in the He Custody

Case before the Appellate Court in Jackson, TN

A visiting Chinese couple has waged a five-year battle for the return of a daughter they had put in the care of a volunteer couple in Memphis, TN. In May 2004 the couple was not only denied the return of their daughter but was declared unfit and stripped of their parental rights by a judge in Shelby County, TN to the shock and disbelief of many in the national legal community.

The ruling was soon appealed to the Appellate Court, Western District. In January 2005 the chapter filed a motion to submit an amicus brief asking the court to consider the social and cultural issues faced by Asians in America. After viewing a draft of the brief the Appellate Court granted our motion and permitted the brief to be filed over objections. The case is to be heard this Wednesday, February 16, 2005.

We believe: 1) that the socio-political culture of the community interfered with responsible people making reasonable judgments and led to the factors that both initiated and has continued to affect this case; 2) that the Chancery Court unconsciously succumbed to stereotyping of Asians in forming its rulings; and, 3) that Culture was not only disregarded but consciously dismissed when determining what was fair and best for the parents and the child. Because the ruling becomes part of common law it could easily affect other cases involving immigrants and visitors to the United States from anywhere in the world.

OCA-GS is a chapter member of Organizational of Chinese Americans, Inc. (OCA) an advocacy and educational group dedicated to equal justice for, and treatment of, Chinese and Asian Pacific Americans in the United States. OCA was founded in 1973 and maintains its headquarters in Washington, D.C.