Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

A few months ago I posted this story about my friend David Goldman, whose 4 year old son was illegally abducted to Brazil by his wife in 2004. David has fallen victim to a corrupt judicial system not seen Sean since then, despite a US Court Order demanding his return and International Law that supports his position.  In August 2008 his wife died in Brazil giving birth.  David went to reclaim his son, but is now engaged in a battle with her new husband---an evil and powerful international lawyer who is basically holding his son hostage with the judicial system in his pocket.

Greta is covering this story Friday and I hope monkeys get involved.  You can help.

http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2008/12/22/we-have-a-new-mission-here-yes-all-of-us/

You all can start by signing this petition.
Thank you in advance.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/return-abducted-minor-sean-goldman-to-his-father

Edit subject line to include "Reunited with his Dad 12/24/09" MB

I have gone back and read your previous posts and am checking to see if we can make them more visible to help Sean's Dad. 

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=3569.0

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=3569.0

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=3569.0

All of your posts have been moved to a separate thread in Crimes Against Children Forum.  I've stickied the thread hoping that it will get more attention from our members and beyond.       

Video of Greta with Sean Goldman.

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=3442581&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/ontherecord/

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=3442581&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/ontherecord/


Moderators.  Any way to give this some more attention!  Thanks!

thank you very much for moving and highliting this.

David Goldman may be appearing on other national networks in the near future.  I will keep you updated.

David Goldman appeared on Greta last night.

Here is a link to his appearance and the GretaWire blog.

http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2009/01/14/a-fathers-quest/#comment-3803704

Please take 2 minutes to sign this petition and help reunite David and Sean.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/return-abducted-minor-sean-goldman-to-his-father

David Goldman appeared on Greta last night.

Here is a link to his appearance and the GretaWire blog.

http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2009/01/14/a-fathers-quest/#comment-3803704

Please take 2 minutes to sign this petition and help reunite David and Sean.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/return-abducted-minor-sean-goldman-to-his-father

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=3442581&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,479984,00.html

This is terrible! I would think the US government would help this man get his son back.  The man who has his son should be charged since he has no legal right to this child.

A new member posted about this a short while ago and I moved it to Crimes Against Children forum.  Thank you, Edward for posting the video. 

I might add Sean's name to the subject line and merge these somehow.

Other information can be found here:

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=4281.0

jjm323,

I suggest all of pertinent information be posted in one thread.  I can move these new posts with video, etc. to the main stickied thread.  The Subject of the sticked thread should be changed to something with Sean's name, Abduction date and something about David being denied access to his son.

I think this may bring more attention.  Also noticed that one of our members posted the same video from Greta in the Missing Person Forum section.  If you'd prefer all info to be there, I can see if our admin agrees.

I see you have posted the same in the stickied thread.  Got a little confused, as it is now in three threads.    ::MonkeyWink::

Sorry about that.  I posted a new thread b/c I thought people would be more likely to click on something if they saw Greta's name.  I will confine all future posts to your stickied thread.  I appreciate your assistance in helping get David's story out there.  I live in the next town over from him in Monmouth County, NJ and this ordeal has taken quite a toll on him.  He is tentatively scheduled to appear on NBC Dateline in the next couple of weeks.  I will keep you updated.  If Scared Monkeys could help prmote his appearance on Dateline when it is finalized, that would be great.  Brazil, like Aruba, cares little about the law and the rights of foreigners when it comes to protecting their own "elite" families.

There will be an in depth ONE HOUR special on NBC DATELINE on FRIDAY, JANUARY 30th on David Goldman's legal battle to return his son Sean home from Brazil.

http://bringseanhome.org/wordpress/

A 1 hour special on the Sean Goldman international child abduction case, Friday night on NBC.

Please watch.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/

Here is a link to the Dateline NBC piece that appeared tonight.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/

jjm323,

In an effort to bring more awareness, I have just posted a link to this thread, as well as the Dateline transcript, in Monkey Musings Daily where many members stop in to chat. 

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=4248.new#new

I'm sorry I missed your recent updates on the airing. 
 

jjm323,

Have you tried to contact Red, the owner of this Forum.  Perhaps he'd be interested in doing a Front Page article on the Scared Monkeys Blog at http://scaredmonkeys.com/       red@scaredmonkeys.com  (email).

Dana Pretzer also has his radio show here  -  dana@scaredmonkeys.com 

http://scaredmonkeysradio.com/

Thanks for the suggestion.  I e-mailed all of them.  Hoping for a response.

Congressman Christopher Smith (R-NJ) has taken up David's cause after the airing of last Friday nights Dateline NBC Special. Congressman Smith is flying to Brazil today with David and will accompany him to a court hearing tomorrow in Brasilia in which the custody of Sean could potentially be determined. 

http://www.app.com/article/20090205/NEWS/90205014

Yesterday afternoon Congressman Smith submitted to the House of Representatives House Resolution 125: "Calling on the Central Authority of Brazil to immediately discharge all its duties under the Hague Convention by facilitating and
supporting federal judicial proceedings as a matter of extreme urgency to obtain the return of Sean Goldman to his father David Goldman for immediate return to the United States."

Please contact your Congressman and ask them to pass House Resolution 125.


Let's all thank Congressman Smith and say a prayer tonight that David and Sean will soon be reunited.

I would love for Scared Monkeys to do a front page story on this case.

Good news! I hope David and Sean will be reunited soon. 

IT TOOK MONTHS OF HARD WORK, BUT IT IS ALL PAYING OFF TODAY.

First, Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) contacts David and agrees to accompany him to Brazil.

Then the AP Bureau in Brazil breaks the 4 month media blackout on the case.

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=105&sid=1594108

Now, better late than never the New Jersey Democratic Senators (not wanting to let s small NJ COngressman steal the thunder) have called for Sean's return!


LAUTENBERG, MENENDEZ CALL ON BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT TO TAKE ACTION TO RETURN
SEAN GOLDMAN TO FATHER

N.J. Senators Say Son Belongs With Father in United States ; Request Meeting With Brazilian Ambassador to Settle International Custody Dispute
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today called on Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to follow international law and assist in the return of Sean Goldman to his father in the United States .  Sean Goldman, who is eight years old, was taken to Brazil by his mother Bruna Goldman in 2004 and kept in Brazil without the consent of the boy’s father – David Goldman.  David Goldman has since waged a legal battle to get his son back.
 
Dear President Lula:
 
We are writing to bring your attention to an international custody dispute involving David Goldman, a United States citizen from New Jersey , and his son, Sean Goldman.  In 2004, Sean, a United States citizen, was taken to Brazil by Mr. Goldman’s late wife, Bruna Goldman, for a two-week vacation.  Once in Brazil , Mrs. Goldman informed Mr. Goldman that she would permanently stay in Brazil with the child without Mr. Goldman’s consent. Since that time, Mr. Goldman has not been permitted to visit with or gain custody of his son, even after Mrs. Goldman’s death in 2008.   
 
For the past four years, Mr. Goldman has been working within Brazilian and U.S. courts, to secure return of his son and assert his parental rights.  On August 26, 2004, two months after the child’s arrival with his Mother in Brazil , the Superior Court of the State of New Jersey issued a ruling ordering that Sean be returned to the United States .  When the child was not returned, Mr. Goldman filed judicial proceedings with the Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro based on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of the International Abduction of Children.  Under the Hague Convention, of which both the U.S. and Brazil are signatories, a child who is a habitual resident in one party country, and who has been removed to another party country in violation of the parent's custodial rights, is to be returned to the country of habitual residence. 
 
The failure to return Sean to Mr Goldman appears to be in direct contradiction to the intentions of the Hague Convention.  It is our understanding that Mr. Goldman has been prevented from securing the return of Sean to the United States based upon Article 12 of the Hague Convention, which states that it is within a judge’s discretionary power to refuse return of a child if the application for return is made more than one year after the date of the taking and the child has become settled in the new environment.  However, this application of Article 12 hardly seems fair under these circumstances, and seems inconsistent with the language and purpose of the Treaty.  Mr. Goldman did petition for the return of his child within a year of his being taken to Brazil .  Additionally, it would set a dangerous precedent to deny parental rights based of the length of time for which the parent was denied access to the child and time-consuming judicial proceedings.
 
Further, with the death of Bruna Goldman, any possible argument of the child having become acclimated in the care of his Mother has dissipated.  Mr. Goldman is Sean’s remaining biological and legal parent.

As we are sure you can appreciate, these four years have been extremely painful for Mr. Goldman.  He has not been permitted to see his son Sean since 2004 – and even when Mr. Goldman traveled to Rio de Janeiro in October 2008 for visitation ordered by the Brazilian court, Sean was hidden from him and those rights were violated.  Many diplomatic efforts have been made to ensure Sean’s return to his father.  The U.S. Embassy in Brazil has repeatedly urged Brazilian authorities to recognize Mr. Goldman’s paternal rights and the international and national laws that favor his case. Furthermore, the Special Secretariat for Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic of Brazil, the central authority for the Hague Convention in Brazil, has sent a request to the Office of the Attorney General for the return of Sean to the U.S.
 
Given the strong and friendly relationship between our two countries, we are writing to respectfully ask that you examine this case and take appropriate action to reunite Sean and his father.  We also request a meeting with Ambassador Antonio de Aguiar Patriota at his earliest possible convenience. Thank you for your time and consideration.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
 
U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ)
U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

DAVID AND SEAN WILL BE TOGETHER SOON!
 

I merged them :D

David and Sean reunited in Brazil for first time in 4 1/2 years.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090209/NEWS/90209071

Hopefully, we are moving closer to a happy ending.

I just saw a news update that mentioned the reunion and came here to post it!!!  I do hope it is getting closer to that happy ending. 

 :gaah:     abc news report said no guarantee that father & son will be reunited permanently (my words).      ::MonkeyWaa::

Have to keep on keeping on.   

You are right 2NJSons_Mom.

Yesterday was a first step, but we have to keep the pressure on the government and courts of Brazil to do the right thing.  I did not see the WABC news report, but Jeff Peagues has been a big help in getting the story out. I trust what he says.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE CAN DO RIGHT NOW IS HELP PASS HOUSE RESOLUTION 125.  Please click on below link and follow instructions on how to contact Congressmen in your state. Thanks!


http://bringseanhome.org/hr125.html




http://bringseanhome.org/help.html


The Media has picked up on the visit. Here is some future coverage:


* The Today Show, Tue Feb 10, around 7:30am they will have a 2-3 minute update on the case

* The Today Show, Wed Feb 11 at either 7:30 or 8am, will have a live interview with Rep Chris Smith discussing the case

* The Today Show will have David on as a live guest upon his return from Brazil, perhaps later this week or next

* Greta van Susteren’s GretaWire Blog

http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2009/02/09/update-on-an-story-we-covered-on-the-record-at-10pm/

Check out this morning's interview.


http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/29116960#29116960

Thank you.   I had missed it this morning.  My heart is in my throat.  As Matt Lauer said, the emotion in his voice.   I cannot imagine being in David's position and hope today's visit is enough to sustain him until this is resolved in his favor. 

Thank you for your thoughts and support.  I can't imagine there were many dry eyes after that interview.  I am choked up again just thinking about it! It is amazing what we as Americans can accomplish when we work together for a common and just cause. 

If you haven't contacted your Congressman yet about HR125 calling on the central authority of Brazil to immediately discharge all its duties under the Hague Convention by facilitating and supporting Federal judicial proceedings as a matter of extreme urgency to obtain the return of Sean Goldman to his father, David Goldman, for immediate return to the United States, follow the below link and please do:

http://www.bringseanhome.org/hr125.html

Can you please post this in the other Chat Thread:

If you haven't contacted your Congressman yet about HR125 calling on the central authority of Brazil to immediately discharge all its duties under the Hague Convention by facilitating and supporting Federal judicial proceedings as a matter of extreme urgency to obtain the return of Sean Goldman to his father, David Goldman, for immediate return to the United States, follow the below link and please do:

http://www.bringseanhome.org/hr125.html

Done.  

DAVID GOLDMAN will appear on Larry King Live tonight 3/4/2009 at 9:00 p.m. EST.

Please stay tuned.

There will also be an update on the Today Show at 7:15 a.m. this morning.

Hillary Clinton will officially comment on the case.

Again, if you haven't contacted your Congressman yet about House Res 125 calling on the central authority of Brazil to immediately discharge all its duties under the Hague Convention by facilitating and supporting Federal judicial proceedings as a matter of extreme urgency to obtain the return of Sean Goldman to his father, David Goldman, for immediate return to the United States, follow the below link and please do:

http://www.bringseanhome.org/hr125.html

You think you're confused????  ::MonkeyEek:: I don't have a clue! LOL! I still don't understand why there are 2, lmao.

Highlight of news coming up on ABC, heard something about David/Sean and a state trip Obama will be taking????   I hope I heard right. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090313/pl_afp/usbrazilpolitics

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was heading to Washington Friday, ahead of weekend talks with US President Barack Obama that would include the global crisis -- and the fate of an eight-year-old boy.

US lawmakers this week overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on Brazil to return the boy, Sean Goldman, to his US father and said they wanted Obama to raise the matter with Lula when they see each other on Saturday.

Sean is currently living with his stepfather in Brazil after his Brazilian mother -- who took him to the South American nation after a split with her US husband David Goldman four years ago -- died in childbirth last August.

A Brazilian court has granted custody of Sean to his Brazilian stepfather, ignoring a previous court decision in the US state of New Jersey giving custody to David Goldman.

The story has become regular fodder in US media, and, more recently, in Brazil.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised the Goldman case when she met her Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim two weeks ago.

While emotions were running high over that case, US and Brazilian officials were more focused on the financial and economic crisis reshaping the world, and how the talks could go to addressing it.

Lula and Obama were to discuss "possible remedies to the global financial crisis," Amorim said.

The fact that Lula is to be the first Latin American leader to be received by Obama since the latter took power on January 20 spoke volumes about Brazil's role as the pre-eminent economic and diplomatic power in the region south of the US border.

This time, a Brazilian president was not heading to Washington hat in hand asking for a bail-out, as has happened so many times with his predecessors when crises struck.

Instead, Lula was arriving as one of the leaders of the emerging nations, which will meet with the industrialized nations in a G20 summit in London April 2.

His country, which last year was given an investment-grade rating and announced gigantic oil finds, is reaching for a higher global profile to match its strengthened economic clout.

Brasilia's aspirations include a permanent seat on an expanded UN Security Council, and a voice in helping solve the nasty and prolonged Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"It's the first time that Brazil has economic stability with democracy, and it's certain that it's emerging -- but that signifies as well great responsibility," said Paulo Sotero, head of the Brazil Institute research unit in the Woodrow Wilson center of studies in the United States.

Regionally, Brazil is seen as an independently minded nation of 190 million people whose socialist-capitalist policies give it prestige among both free-market US allies (Colombia, Peru, Mexico) and hard-left US antagonists (Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia).

Still, the crisis is hitting Brazil hard. Industrial output has fallen off a cliff, unemployment is taking off, and, worse, international credit for the commodity-exporting nation is drying up.

Brazil has been vociferous in demanding the wealthier nations provide credit to emerging countries, and that trade be boosted, not subject to protectionism.

"That is our priority number one," Lula told reporters Thursday, saying he planned to raise it with Obama and at the G20 summit of leading industrial and developing countries.

He said action must be taken "to normalize international credit for companies and so that people can get money from loans."

The Brazilian president also hinted strongly that Obama should overcome his resistance to nationalizing faltering US banks.

"Normalized credit means that certain countries are going to have to create public banks," Lula said.

Just heard on NBC news that the court has decided Sean should be returned to his father.  I will post it when I find written documentation. 

This is great news. 

 Lawyer: NJ man wins custody of son taken to Brazil
By BILL NEWILL – 1 hour ago

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A federal court in Brazil has ruled that a New Jersey father should get custody of his 8-year-old son, whose mother took him to the South American nation after their divorce and died there, the man's lawyer said Monday.

Attorney Patricia Apy, who represents David Goldman, said she was notified of the decision Monday afternoon. The ruling calls for the boy to be turned over to his father on Wednesday, Apy said.

The boy's Brazilian mother took him to Brazil in 2004. She remarried and never returned to the United States. She died last year of complications from the birth of another child.

Eight-year-old Sean Goldman was being raised by his stepfather.

A Brazilian lawyer for the mother's family said he will appeal the decision to return the boy.

"Many times the boy has expressed his desire to stay in Brazil," attorney Sergio Tostes told local Globo TV. "We are doing everything we can to see justice prevail."

A telephone call to David Goldman's home in Tinton Falls connected to an answering machine with a full inbox Monday night.

U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, intervened in Goldman's case in February and traveled to Brazil with him. While Smith was there, Goldman was able to meet with his son for the first time in nearly five years.

The case got high-level attention with international diplomatic overtones this spring when the U.S. House and Senate called on Brazil to permit the boy's return, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made the same request and the presidents of the U.S. and Brazil discussed the matter.

Clinton said Goldman's case is an example of a problem around the world. She said there were nearly 50 U.S. children in similar situations in Brazil who should be returned to the U.S. — and more around the world.

Clinton brought up the subject while speaking Monday at a joint news conference in San Salvador, El Salvador, with newly inaugurated Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes.

"It's taken a long time for this day to come, but we will work with the Goldman family and the Brazilian government with the goal of ensuring this young boy's return," she said.

Apy said Monday night that she had not received a copy of the Brazilian court decision but expected to get one and have it translated from Portuguese into English on Tuesday.

The order calls for the boy's immediate return, Apy said.

"The court has made remarkable conditions to be able to facilitate that happening," she said.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jX3m1T5CqV9pKBnEeqWLITU4h72AD98I7UQ80

that is certainly good news!
David Goldman has fought very hard to get his son back...
justice prevails! ::MonkeyDance::

 ::MonkeyDance:: ::MonkeyDance::

I heard on the news tonight that the decision was reversed by a Brazilian judge.....it has to go to the full court???  I do not yet have any documentation, but it makes me so sad for David.  I am hoping that this will still have a good outcome.  Sean must be with his father.   ::MonkeyWaa::    ::MonkeyAngel::

Monmouth County father still unable to return home with son in custody battle in Brazil
(http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2009/06/medium_dg.JPG)
by The Associated Press Wednesday June 03, 2009, 8:10 AM
NEWARK -- A Monmouth County father said he doesn't expect to return home to New Jersey from Brazil with his 9-year-old son.

David GoldmanA federal judge in Brazil this week ordered Sean Goldman be handed over to David Goldman of Tinton Falls. But a judge on Tuesday night held up the boy's return so a court could review the decision. Now it's unclear when it might be resolved.

Speaking in Brazil, David Goldman told NBC's "Today" show today that his son mostly likely won't be on a plane with him by the afternoon.

Goldman said he will try to visit his son.

Goldman's wife took the boy to her native Brazil in 2004 and later married. She died last year. The boy is living with his stepfather.

The case has reached the highest levels of government in the U.S. and Brazil.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/monmouth_county_father_still_u.html

Have been hearing this news all day...supposedly David was going to be able to see Sean today but does anyone know if that happened?
I feel so bad for this father...I can't believe that this is happening in this day and age!

Latest updates or info can be found here:

http://bringseanhome.org/home.html

There is the following which may air tomorrow:

Dateline NBC which traveled to Brazil with David has tentatively announced that it will be airing a complete one hour report on the Goldman case on Sunday June 7th at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 9:00 p.m. Central. For supporters in the Mountain and Pacific time zones please check your local listings for the channel and correct time. The situation in Brazil is FLUID, please check the FORUMS on the www.BringSeanHome.org website for any breaking news on the case.

'Bring Sean Home' vigil to be held Tuesday
Press Staff Report • June 15, 2009

RED BANK — Supporters of David Goldman's efforts to bring his 9-year-old son home from Brazil will hold a candlelight vigil Tuesday night at Riversides Garden Park.

Supports of David Goldman's efforts to bring his 9-year-old son home from Brazil will hold a candlelight vigil Tuesday night at Riversides Garden Park.

http://www.app.com/article/20090615/NEWS/90615070/1004/NEWS01/+Bring+Sean+Home++vigil+to+be+held+Tuesday

Brazilian Supreme Court rules in favor of David Goldman
June 10, 9:47 PM · 9 comments
In a unanimous ruling today, the Brazilian Supreme Court refused to consider a request from the country's Progressive Party that argued it would be wrong to remove Sean Goldman from his Brazilian stepfamily and return him to his American father.

This was a bittersweet victory for David Goldman whose wife kidnapped their son five years ago. Since a Brazilian federal court of appeals has decided that Sean should stay in his stepfather's custody until the court hears another appeal from the Brazilian family, David Goldman still has no idea when he might be able to bring his son home.

Goldman did express pleasure that today's Supreme Court hearing brought into the open the psychological damage he says his son has suffered over the past five years. While the boy's mother and stepfather were preventing Goldman from contacting his son, they were telling the boy that his father had abandoned him.

In 2004, Sean's mother, Bruna Bianchi, took him for a two-week vacation to her native Brazil and never returned. She divorced David Goldman in Brazil and married Rio de Janeiro lawyer Joao Paulo Lins e Silva. She died last year of complications from the birth of another child, and a Rio de Janeiro state court granted Lins e Silva temporary custody of Sean.

Last week, a lower court ruling that Sean Goldman be returned to the U.S. was suspended by a supreme court justice based on a petition filed by the conservative Progressive Party, which argued that the boy has been living in the country for five years and would be stripped of his current family environment of "happiness, love and comprehension."

President Barack Obama has discussed the custody case with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Washington, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has lobbied for the boy's return to his father's custody. Last week U.S. Congressman Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, introduced a bill that would temporarily remove Brazil from a duty-free trade program. He says Brazil received $2.75 billion in U.S. trade benefits last year.

http://www.examiner.com/x-5845-Single-Parenting-Examiner~y2009m6d10-Brazilian-Supreme-Court-rules-in-favor-of-David-Goldman

CNN interview with David Goldman. (thanks, nonesuche)

http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/16/father-fights-for-sons-return-on-5th-anniversary/

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=7870886&page=1

Kidnapped American Boy Wants to Stay in Brazil
New Twist in 5-Year Battle By N.J. Father to Bring His Son Back to USA

 By BRANDY ZADROZNY
June 18, 2009
Sean Goldman, the nine-year-old American who was taken to Brazil by his mother for a vacation and never returned, has told a psychologist that he wants to stay in Brazil.  In the transcript, released by the Brazilian family's lawyers on Wednesday, Goldman tells a psychologist that if he is sent back to New Jersey to be with his father David Goldman he will "break down totally." At several points in the interview he says, "I want to stay here in Brazil."

The boy's father, David Goldman, told "Good Morning America" earlier this week that he was elated at a Brazilian Supreme Court ruling that the country would abide by the Hague Convention, essentially clearing the way for approximately 70 allegedly kidnapped American children to come home, he said, including Sean, who was four when he was taken.

Goldman said he last saw Sean about two weeks ago.

"He's struggling," he said. "They're putting a lot of pressure on him. They've been waging this campaign to turn him against me."
The interview with Sean Goldman was conducted Monday by psychologist Terezinha Feres-Carneiro in a Rio de Janeiro hospital. It wasn't immediately clear who paid for the psychologist's services, the Associated Press reported.

When asked to draw a picture of his family, the boy drew only his stepfather, sister and Brazilian grandparents.

It's unclear how the boy's statements to the psychologist will influence the ongoing custody battle.

Visits have been so emotionally difficult that Goldman worries the stress from the excessively supervised visits could be damaging to Sean.

Goldman said a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation has proved that his son has been subjected to what he called parental alienation.

In 2008, Sean's mother Bruna Bianchi died while giving birth to a second child conceived withwith her new husband, Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, a Rio de Janeiro lawyer. Since Bianchi's death, Sean has been living with his stepfather.

Goldman said today that he had no inkling this would happen when he drove wife and son to airport five years ago.

"We all gave each other hugs and kisses," he said. "I waved goodbye with the blessings of a safe trip."
 Bringing Sean Home

Since his ex-wife's death, the New Jersey father has fought for the return of Sean, who is now nine-years old. Goldman has been through a series of successes and setbacks, winning custody in Brazilian courts only to see the decision delayed and then upheld by the country's Supreme Court.

With Brazil's Supreme Court now backing Goldman, the only hurdle that remains seems to be an appeal from Sean's Brazilian family.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528481,00.html ::MonkeyWaa::

how sad they coach this little boy and his father has to remain on the side lines watching in pain his precious son.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-lt-brazil-us-custody-battle,0,1451443.story
Reports: Judge says boy stays with Brazilian stepfather until custody case sorted out
STAN LEHMAN | Associate Press Writer
12:41 PM EDT, June 27, 2009
SAO PAULO (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that a 9-year-old boy at the center of an international custody battle must remain with his Brazilian stepfather until a final ruling is issued on the boy's permanent custody, local news media reported Saturday.

The ruling would overturn a separate judge's order earlier this month that Sean's biological father, U.S. citizen David Goldman, should have custody of his son six days a week whenever Goldman is in Brazil.

No one answered calls by The Associated Press to Goldman's Brazilian attorney and to the lawyer representing the stepfather.

In 2004, Sean's mother, Bruna Bianchi, took him for a vacation to her native Brazil and never returned. She later married Rio de Janeiro lawyer Joao Paulo Lins e Silva and died last year giving birth to a daughter.
he boy is now living with Lins e Silva, who wants to retain custody.

Goldman, who lives in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, has been seeking custody of Sean under the Hague Convention on international child abductions, which requires that participating countries return abducted or wrongfully retained children to the country of their "habitual residence."

A lower court in Brazil ruled earlier this month that Sean be returned to the United States, but the decision was suspended by a Brazilian Supreme Court justice based on a petition filed by a political party, which argued that removing Sean from his current family environment would hurt him.

On June 10, the Supreme Court issued yet a third ruling, that the decision on the boy's fate must be made by a federal court. It's not clear when that ruling may come.

Muffy, I heard this on the late news.  Just another disappointment for David Goldman in this horrible nightmare.  Sean should be with his father, not his stepfather.     ::MonkeyNoNo::

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580373,00.html?sPage=fnc/us/crime

Brazilian Court Hears Case of U.S. Boy in Custody Fight
Wednesday, December 16, 2009

RIO DE JANEIRO —  A Brazilian federal court is hearing arguments on whether a 9-year-old boy living in Brazil should be returned to his father in New Jersey.

Lawyers say that whoever loses the ruling expected Wednesday is likely to make a final appeal to another court in Brasilia.

The supreme court in June ruled the case should be heard by the federal court in Rio.

The case began in 2004, when David Goldman's wife Bruna Bianchi took their then-4-year-old son Sean to her native Brazil.

Goldman says it was to be a two-week vacation. But she stayed and so did the boy. She eventually was divorced there and remarried. She died last year, but her new husband's family is seeking to keep Sean.

(http://www.foxnews.com/images/542321/1_61_goldman_david.jpg)
Bring Sean Home:David Goldman, shown here with his son Sean, is still trying to bring him back from Brazil to New Jersey.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34447543/ns/world_news-americas?GT1=43001

Brazil court rules for U.S. dad seeking custody
Court battle began after boy's Brazilian mother died last year


updated 35 minutes ago
RIO DE JANEIRO - A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that a 9-year-old boy living in Brazil should be returned to his American father, but the case will likely be appealed again, officials said.

A panel of three Brazilian judges ruled the boy must be handed over to his father, David Goldman, at the U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro within 48 hours, said Ricardo Zamariola, Goldman's attorney.

**snipped**

Thanks, Lovinlife.  I was just about to post this news.  I saw David being interviewed on the news and it's hard to see the mix of joy and pain in his eyes.  He's been there before.  I also heard that the Brazilian family members are going to appeal their Supreme Court. 

Will there be no end to this for David and Sean?   ::MonkeyNoNo::

Yes..it is supposed to happen on Friday but I bet that it won't happen...
imo.....

My fervent prayers this Father may bring his son home.

Unfotunately you were right Cookie.  Just breaks my heart...

Brazilian top court rules boy stays for now
International court battle began after child’s Brazilian mother died in 2008


updated 9 minutes ago
RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's Supreme Court delayed the return of a 9-year-old boy to his New Jersey father.

Thursday's ruling by Justice Marco Aurelio Mello agreed with a petition by the boy's Brazilian family that he should remain in Brazil until the court decides whether the child's own testimony should be heard in the case.

The ruling suspended a Wednesday judgment by a lower court ordering that David Goldman be given custody of his son, Sean. On Thursday, Goldman was met by a crush of reporters at the airport in Rio de Janeiro, where he was hopeful to return to the U.S. with the boy.

But the latest ruling dashed those expectations. Because the court goes into recess on Friday, a ruling on whether the boy's testimony should be heard will not likely before February.

The boy will remain in Brazil at least until then. It was unknown whether Goldman would leave or remain in Brazil.

President Barack Obama, the U.S. Congress and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have all urged the child's return, and a U.S. congressman traveled to Rio on Thursday to continue lobbying for Sean's return.

(http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/091217-goldman-vmed-1040a.small.jpg)
David Goldman, left, arrives at Rio de Janeiro's airport.

I sure didn't want to be right on this one...it just seemed to easy and too good to be true after all that this father has been through...so sad..this is outrageous..A caller on JVM show said that we should boycott the Olympics until Sean is returned..interesting..but of course that won't happen...I would be for doing that, but not fair to the athletes ....

 David Goldman seeks Brazil attorney general's backing in custody fight

By The Associated Press
December 18, 2009, 10:05AM
RIO DE JANEIRO — A Monmouth County man fighting for custody of his 9-year-old son has asked Brazil's attorney general to join his battle before the nation's Supreme Court, and officials said today they are studying the request.

Patricia Apy, David Goldman's U.S.-based lawyer, said they were asking the government to appeal a Supreme Court order issued Thursday that delayed Goldman's reunion with his son Sean, who was taken to Brazil five years ago.

(http://media.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/photo/david-goldman-braziljpg-a425dc89581bab21_large.jpg)
AP Photo/Felipe DanaU.S. citizen David Goldman, second right, arrives at Rio de Janeiro's airport Thursday. Brazil's Supreme Court suspended a lower court's ruling that gave Goldman custody of his son Sean.

A spokesman for the attorney general's office said the agency was studying the request.

"We're evaluating how to proceed in this matter. A decision could be made today, or it could take more time than that," an attorney general's spokesman said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the case.

Time is not on Goldman's side.

The Supreme Court goes into a two-month recess after today, and Apy acknowledged that getting the Court to act on the request before then would be "extremely difficult."

Goldman made a 12-hour flight to Brazil in hopes of recovering his son after a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that Sean should be returned to him.

But only hours after he stepped off the plane on Thursday, the Supreme Court stayed that ruling, saying it first must decide whether courts should head the child's own testimony on where he would like to live.

That prompted Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey to place on hold a trade bill that would let Brazil and other countries export some products duty-free to the United States. He joins a string of other U.S. leaders, up to President Barack Obama, who have tried to sway Brazil to let Goldman regain his son.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, also added his weight by flying to Brazil to back Goldman.

Sergio Tostes, attorney for Sean's stepfather Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, said the case should never have become a political battle.

"This is not a fight between two countries," Tostes said. "This is just the pursuit of the truth and the pursuit of what is in the best interest of the boy."

Goldman's then-wife Bruna Bianchi took Sean to Brazil in 2004 and decided to stay. She divorced Goldman and remarried before dying while giving birth to a daughter last year.

The Bianchi's family celebrated Thursday's Supreme Court ruling and their attorney showed reporters a drawing he said Sean had made: "I want to stay in Brazil forever," it read in big, green lettering in Portuguese.

David Goldman called the ruling "ridiculous" and said he could not believe the Brazilian courts would "allow a child to remain separated from their only parent and try to turn that child against that parent."

He added that to "demand a 9-year-old, innocent ... psychologically damaged child to speak in a court is beyond cruel."

Unless the Supreme Court acts anew today, the boy will be in Brazil at least until Feb. 1, following the justices' return from a recess, according to a court spokesman who commented on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the case.

In his decision, Justice Marco Aurelio Mello wrote that "at stake is a fully formed life. At stake is the right to come and go, the right of opinion, expression and human dignity."

Silvana Bianchi, Sean's maternal grandmother, told the private Agencia Estado news service she was elated with the decision. She said Sean, who has dual citizenship, says he wants to remain in Brazil.

"His testimony has never been heard," she said. "As a Brazilian citizen, he deserves it. He is a child of nearly 10 and he knows quite well what he wants."

Goldman has had little time with his child. He was reunited with Sean in February for the first time since his son was taken to Brazil and has not seen him since June.

© 2009 NJ.com. All rights reserved.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/12/david_goldman_seeks_brazil_att.html

Brazil Court Expected to Make Emergency Ruling Today in Goldman Custody Battle
David Goldman: Bringing Sean Home Is 'the Right Thing for Him'
By JEFFREY KOFMAN and SARAH NETTER
RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 21, 2009 —


With an emergency ruling expected in Brazil today, David Goldman is hoping he can take his 9-year-old son home for Christmas.

"It is the best thing for Sean, for he and I to be together," Goldman told "Good Morning America" today. "It is the right of a parent and a child to be together. It is our most basic principle, and we deserve that."

But after five years of trying to bring his son home after his ex-wife took Sean to Brazil and never returned, Goldman knows not to expect anything.

"I was hopeful that I would come down here Wednesday and would be returning with my son," he said. "As usual, something happened and here I am in a hotel room in Brazil."

Goldman had been ready to take Sean home last week after Brazil's Supreme Court ruled in his favor. But shortly after he arrived in Rio de Janeiro, the same court agreed with a petition filed by Sean's Brazilian family and stayed the ruling, saying the transfer of custody would have to wait until the court decided whether Sean's own testimony could be used in the case.

Goldman said he's already prepared for the challenges Sean is sure to have adjusting to life in the United States after five years in Brazil.

"It is the right thing for him" to come home, he said. "He's been here for five years illegally, and he's been suffering severe psychological and emotional damage every day he's been here. He will need help."

All sides seem to be ready for an end to the five-year custody battle that has made international headlines.

Congress, angry with Brazil's failure to abide by international kidnapping agreements, has stalled a multi-billion dollar trade deal. And Brazil Attorney General Luis Inacio Adams issued a statement supporting Goldman, worrying about "damage [to] the reputation of Brazil before the international community."

Even Sean Goldman's Brazilian family seems ready for a compromise.

"Everybody is suffering, especially the boy, so this is something that has to come to an end," Sergio Tostes, a lawyer for Sean's Brazilian family, said.

Goldman, however, said he has not had any direct communication with Sean's Brazilian family and doesn't know what type of negotiations they may be willing to consider.

Goldman has accused his Brazilian in-laws of treatment that is "beyond cruel."


David Goldman Hopeful for Reunion With 9-Year-Old Son
The in-laws invited Goldman at a press conference last week to spend Christmas Eve with 9-year-old Sean and his Brazilian family.

Tostes said the family is "putting down their guns," and didn't want to fight with Goldman over the boy's custody. The family said they want to have negotiations with Goldman, but on the condition that Sean not go to the United States right away. The boy, Tostes said, would be traumatized if he didn't spend Christmas with his Brazilian relatives.

Goldman has previously said he was uncomfortable meeting at the family's home. He's also said he doesn't want visitation rights, he wants his boy back.

Goldman told ABC News on Friday that he's not sure what it will take to bring Sean home, but that he'll do whatever he can to protect his son.

"It should be so simple shouldn't it? Just a parent and a child," he said. "Not two countries, not big governments, not judges. It's just the right of a parent and their child."

Goldman claimed his son has been "tortured," sleep deprived and psychologically abused by his Brazilian family's attempts to portray Goldman as the bad guy.

"He's being psychologically brainwashed," he said. "You cannot hug your father, you cannot love your father. Your father abandoned you."

"He needs to come home, he needs to be freed from this," Goldman said. "He needs to be a little boy. He can't live with this pressure."

Goldman said he has seen Sean four times so far this year. The beginning of the visits, he said, are typically marred by the presence of the "big, hairy guy" who accompanies Sean. But once the two are alone, Goldman said the bond begins to return.

"And we would play, we would love, we would be father and son," he said.

Sean has been in Brazil since 2004, when he went on vacation with his mother, Bruna Bianchi, and never returned. Instead Bianchi remarried a politically connected lawyer and died giving birth last year.

The Hague convention requires children such as Sean who are unlawfully taken to other countries to be returned. But Bianchi's husband refused to send him back and a custody battle ensued.

"Everyone knows what is going on, everyone knows the abuse my son is being afflicted by and it is very, very sad. And I honestly believe that the justice system doesn't want to be looked at as a country that is a safe haven for kidnappers," Goldman said.


Goldman: Sean Shows Signs of Psychological Abuse During Visits
Sean's Brazilian family insists that the issue should remain between the two families, and that Sean wants to stay in his mother's native country.

"This is not a fight between two countries. There should not be any political issue involved. This is just the pursuit of the truth and the pursuit of what is in the best interest of the boy," Sergio Tostes, a lawyer representing Sean Goldman's stepfather, said.

Goldman spoke about a visit with his son on "Good Morning America" in June.

"It was so joyous," Goldman said. "And the only one question he asked me is, after we were talking, 'How come you haven't been here to see me in this time?' ... I just said, 'Sean, I've been here many times.'"

Goldman said the visits with his son were so emotionally difficult that he worried the stress from the excessively supervised visits could be damaging to Sean.

He said a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation has proved that his son has been subjected to what he called parental alienation.

Goldman said that he had no inkling of what the future held on the day he drove wife and son to airport five years ago.

"We all gave each other hugs and kisses," he said. "I waved goodbye with the blessings of a safe trip."

Katie Escherich, Brandy Zadrozny and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/brazil-expected-rule-today-goldman-custody-case/story?id=9388848

Brazil: Boy ordered returned to US dad's custody
By BRADLEY BROOKS, Associated Press Writer Bradley Brooks, Associated Press Writer 21 mins ago
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil's chief justice ruled in favor of a U.S. man who has waged a five-year legal battle for his son, ordering Brazilian relatives on Tuesday to turn over the 9-year-old boy.

The decision put David Goldman one step closer to finally being reunited with his son, Sean, and appeared to bring the case in line with international custody accords.

The boy was taken by Goldman's now-deceased ex-wife to her native Brazil in 2004, where he has remained. Goldman, of Tinton Falls, New Jersey, has been fighting to get him back from the boy's stepfather.

Both the U.S. and Brazilian governments have said the matter clearly fell under the Hague Convention, which seeks to ensure that custody decisions are made by the courts in the country where a child originally lived — in this case, the United States.

Goldman's New Jersey-based lawyer, Patricia Apy, said Tuesday that she believed the order by Supreme Court Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes required Sean to be handed over immediately, but she said Goldman's attorneys had not heard from lawyers for the Brazilian family.

Lawyers on both sides have said there was still a chance for the Brazilian family to appeal to Brazil's highest appeals court, though the chances of success seemed slight.

Goldman declined to comment until he learned more details about the 50-page ruling. Calls to the Brazilian family's lawyer were not returned.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican New Jersey congressman who traveled to Brazil to offer his support, said Goldman was pleased.

"He was elated, a big smile came to his face, but he said 'I'm not going to let my guard down until it's wheels up,'" Smith said.

Goldman launched his case in U.S. and Brazilian courts after Sean was taken by his mother to Brazil, where she then divorced Goldman and remarried. She died last year in childbirth, and the boy has lived with his stepfather since.

A lawyer specializing in the Hague Convention said Tuesday's decision by Mendes was the only right one to make.

"It would be virtually impossible to reconcile international law with a ruling in favor of the Brazilian family," said Greg Lewen of the Miami-based law firm Fowler White Burnett.

He said that if the Hague Convention were not followed by the chief justice, "the State Department should immediately issue a travel advisory warning parents not to go to Brazil with their children."

Smith, the congressman, said the fact that the Brazilian chief justice ruled Sean should be with his father would take the steam out of any appeal from the stepfather, himself a lawyer from a prominent family of Rio de Janeiro attorneys.

During a teleconference with U.S. journalists late Tuesday, Smith said law enforcement was on guard in case the Brazilian family did not transfer Sean. He said the international police agency Interpol had been notified to make sure Sean was not flown out of Brazil.

"Our hope is, given the prominence of this family in legal circles, that's less likely to happen," Smith said.

Silvana Bianchi, Sean's maternal grandmother, wrote an open letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva just hours before the Tuesday ruling, in which she said cultural differences and international pressure were driving the case.

"Our moral foundation values the mother's role. In the absence of the mother, the raising should be done by the grandmother," she wrote. "That's how it's done in Brazil, from north to south, regardless of race, religion or social class. It's natural that foreigners, with a different foundation, would not understand these authentically Brazilian feelings."

Meanwhile, Goldman has said his parents and other relatives have been waiting for years to be reunited with Sean.

Silva has said that he would not intervene in the case, that it was purely a matter for Brazil's legal system.

Goldman said on Sunday he would allow Sean's Brazilian relatives to visit with his son if he won: "I will not do to them what they've done to Sean and me."

The case has affected diplomatic ties between Brazil and the United States, as the U.S. State Department applied pressure for the boy to be returned. President Barack Obama and Silva have discussed the matter.

Last week, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey reacted to the case by blocking renewal of a $2.75 billion trade deal that would remove U.S. tariffs on some Brazilian goods. He lifted the hold after Tuesday's ruling and the U.S. Senate quickly passed the trade measure.

The chief justice's ruling rendered invalid an earlier stay on a lower court decision ordering Sean be turned over to his father.

The Brazilian family's lawyer, Sergio Tostes, recently said that he would like to see a negotiated settlement, noting that he wanted to end the damage being done to Sean and to U.S.-Brazil relations.

Goldman said negotiations were out of the question.

"This isn't about a shared custody — I'm his dad, I'm his only parent," Goldman said. "This isn't a custody case — it's an abduction case."

___

Associated Press writers Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, Tales Azzoni in Sao Paulo and AP Television News producer Flora Charner contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Questions or Comments Privacy Policy Terms of Service Copyright/IP Policy

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091223/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_us_custody_battle;_ylt=AtbK5cfrJBfnjJNeUx4AYOas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNyaWVuanJ0BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMjIzL2x0X2JyYXppbF91c19jdXN0b2R5X2JhdHRsZQRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzIEcG9zAzcEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2JyYXppbGJveW9yZA--

 ::MonkeyDance:: ::MonkeyDance:: ::MonkeyDance::

Brazil Family Will Not Appeal Custody Ruling on U.S. Boy

Thank you God for answering this dad's prayers  ::MonkeyAngel::

If I were David, I'd be one that plane so fast it would make there head spin, wouldn't won't to give them a chance to file anything to intervene in coming back to the US.....now what are they going to do with the other 50 or so children that have been abducted and are in Brazil under the same circumstances ::MonkeyNoNo::

 
N.J. father David Goldman is cautiously hopeful for reunion with son in Brazil
By The Associated Press
December 23, 2009, 9:11AM
RIO DE JANEIRO — An American father is cautiously hopeful that he will be reunited with his son today after a five-year custody battle that went to the highest levels of both governments.

David Goldman won a big legal victory late Tuesday when Brazil's chief justice upheld a lower court's ruling that ordered his son, Sean, returned to him. The 9-year-old boy has lived in Brazil since Goldman's ex-wife took him to her native country in 2004. Last year she died in childbirth.

(http://media.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/photo/david-goldman-braziljpg-7ed7f6562fef933e_large.jpg)
Silvia Izquierdo/The Associated PressDavid Goldman, left, and US Representative Chris Smith speak to the press in Rio de Janeiro on Monday.Goldman was happy, but wary about the decision.

"When? When? When will Sean and I be able to go home, father and son?" he asked in an interview aired today on NBC's "Today" show.

Since he arrived in Rio a week ago — the latest of more than 10 trips in recent years during his legal fight — Goldman has said that until he is on a plane with his son heading to the U.S., he will not be convinced his battle is over.

"We're hopeful that David and Sean will be reunited today," said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Orna Blum, who is accompanying Goldman in Rio.

Goldman's lawyers were finalizing legal documents this morning and were fully expecting that the Brazilian family would turn over Sean as ordered, Blum said.

Full coverage of Monmouth County dad David Goldman's custody battle for son in Brazil

There has been no word from the Brazilian family or its lawyer, however, and it is not clear if the boy is even in Rio de Janeiro.

Goldman, of Tinton Falls, New Jersey, has been fighting to get Sean back from the boy's stepfather.

Both the U.S. and Brazilian governments have said the matter clearly fell under the Hague Convention, which seeks to ensure that custody decisions are made by the courts in the country where a child originally lived — in this case, the United States.

Goldman's New Jersey-based lawyer, Patricia Apy, said she believed the order by Supreme Court Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes required Sean to be handed over immediately.

Lawyers on both sides have said there was still a chance for the Brazilian family to appeal to Brazil's highest appeals court, though the chances of success seemed slight.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican New Jersey congressman who traveled to Brazil to offer his support, said Goldman was pleased with the Supreme Court justice's decision.

"He was elated, a big smile came to his face, but he said 'I'm not going to let my guard down until it's wheels up,'" Smith said.

A lawyer specializing in the Hague Convention said Tuesday's decision by Mendes was the only right one to make.

"It would be virtually impossible to reconcile international law with a ruling in favor of the Brazilian family," said Greg Lewen of the Miami-based law firm Fowler White Burnett.

He said that if the Hague Convention were not followed by the chief justice, "the State Department should immediately issue a travel advisory warning parents not to go to Brazil with their children."

Smith, the congressman, said the fact that the Brazilian chief justice ruled Sean should be with his father would take the steam out of any appeal from the stepfather, himself a lawyer from a prominent family of Rio de Janeiro attorneys.

During a teleconference with U.S. journalists late Tuesday, Smith said law enforcement was on guard in case the Brazilian family did not transfer Sean. He said the international police agency Interpol had been notified to make sure Sean was not flown out of Brazil.

"Our hope is, given the prominence of this family in legal circles, that's less likely to happen," Smith said.

Silvana Bianchi, Sean's maternal grandmother, wrote an open letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva just hours before the Tuesday ruling, in which she said cultural differences and international pressure were driving the case.

"Our moral foundation values the mother's role. In the absence of the mother, the raising should be done by the grandmother," she wrote. "That's how it's done in Brazil, from north to south, regardless of race, religion or social class. It's natural that foreigners, with a different foundation, would not understand these authentically Brazilian feelings."

Meanwhile, Goldman has said his parents and other relatives have been waiting for years to be reunited with Sean.

Silva has said he would not intervene in the case, that it was purely a matter for Brazil's legal system.

© 2009 NJ.com. All rights reserved.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/12/nj_father_david_goldman_is_cau.html

http://www.kxan.com/dpps/news/international/brazilian-family-to-relinquish-boy-_3150380
Brazilian family to relinquish boy

Updated: Wednesday, 23 Dec 2009, 1:56 PM CST
Published : Wednesday, 23 Dec 2009, 1:56 PM CST

    * BRADLEY BROOKS, Associated Press Writer

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - A federal court has ordered a Brazilian family to turn over a 9-year-old boy to his U.S. father by Thursday morning.

The regional court in Rio de Janeiro issued a statement Wednesday afternoon announcing the order.

The ruling gives the family until 9 a.m. (6 a.m. EST; 1100 GMT) Thursday to relinquish the boy to his father, David Goldman.

Goldman, of Tinton Falls, New Jersey, won a big legal victory late Tuesday when Brazil's chief justice upheld a lower court's ruling that ordered his son, Sean, returned to him. The boy has lived in Brazil since Goldman's ex-wife took him to her native country in 2004. Last year she died in childbirth.

Goldman's lawyers were finalizing legal documents Wednesday morning and were fully expecting that the Brazilian family would turn over Sean as ordered, said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Orna Blum, who is accompanying Goldman in Rio.

"We're hopeful that David and Sean will be reunited today," Blum said.

There has been no word from the Brazilian family or its lawyer, however, and it is not clear if the boy is even in Rio de Janeiro.

Lawyers on both sides have said there was still a chance for the Brazilian family to appeal to Brazil's highest appeals court, though the chances of success seemed slight.

The fact that the chief justice ruled Sean should be with his father should take the steam out of any appeal from the Brazilian stepfather, himself a lawyer from a prominent family of Rio de Janeiro attorneys, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican New Jersey congressman who traveled to Brazil to offer his support, told U.S. journalists in a teleconference late Tuesday.

Smith said law enforcement was on guard in case the Brazilian family did not transfer Sean. He said the international police agency Interpol had been notified to make sure Sean was not flown out of Brazil.

"When? When? When will Sean and I be able to go home, father and son?" Goldman asked in an interview aired Wednesday morning on the U.S. television network NBC.

Goldman, who has made more than 10 trips to Brazil in recent years, has said that until he is on a plane with his son heading to the U.S., he will not be convinced his battle is over.

Both the U.S. and Brazilian governments have said the matter clearly fell under the Hague Convention, which seeks to ensure that custody decisions are made by the courts in the country where a child originally lived — in this case, the United States.

A lawyer specializing in the Hague Convention said Tuesday's decision by Mendes was the only right one to make.

"It would be virtually impossible to reconcile international law with a ruling in favor of the Brazilian family," said Greg Lewen of the Miami-based law firm Fowler White Burnett.

He said that if the Hague Convention were not followed by the chief justice, "the State Department should immediately issue a travel advisory warning parents not to go to Brazil with their children."

Silvana Bianchi, Sean's maternal grandmother, wrote an open letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva just hours before the Tuesday ruling, in which she said cultural differences and international pressure were driving the case.

"Our moral foundation values the mother's role. In the absence of the mother, the raising should be done by the grandmother," she wrote. "That's how it's done in Brazil, from north to south, regardless of race, religion or social class. It's natural that foreigners, with a different foundation, would not understand these authentically Brazilian feelings."

Meanwhile, Goldman has said his parents and other relatives have been waiting for years to be reunited with Sean.

Silva has said he would not intervene in the case, that it was purely a matter for Brazil's legal system.
___

Associated Press Writers Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel, New Jersey; Tales Azzoni in Sao Paulo; and AP Television News producer Flora Charner contributed to this report.

Oh my, I pray this young boy will be going home with his father.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8429659.stm

Boy reunited with US father after Brazil custody fight

Page last updated at 15:31 GMT, Thursday, 24 December 2009
(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46990000/jpg/_46990805_-1.jpg)
An American father has been reunited with his nine-year-old son after a bitter, five-year custody battle with the boy's Brazilian relatives.
<snip>

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/24/earlyshow/main6017983.shtml

Dec. 24, 2009
Sean Goldman: "Psychological Armageddon"?
Psychologist Says Boy, 9, Faces Many Challenges Adjusting to Life in U.S., with American Father, After Years in Brazil

(CBS)   David Goldman has been battling for five years to regain custody of his son, Sean Goldman, from Sean's stepfamily in Brazil. David won his battle this week, and father an son were reunited Thursday in Rio de Janeiro.

But, says psychologist Dr. Jenn Berman, Sean Goldman is likely to have a very hard time getting re-acclimated to life in the United States, with David Goldman, in both the long- and short-run. "Emotionally speaking," Berman told Jeff Glor, adjusting could prove to be a "psychological Armageddon" for Sean, 9.
<snip>

I hope Sean Goldman has a wonderful life with his father David.   ::MonkeyDance:: 

Oh Muffy, I totally agree.  What a wonderful Christmas for this family.  It will be hard on this child, but I am positive Mr. Goldman will do whatever it takes to help his son adjust.
 ::DancingSantaMonkey1:: ::DancingSantaMonkey1:: ::DancingSantaMonkey1::

 

Text of letter from David Goldman
         By The Associated Press The Associated Press – Thu Dec 24, 11:20 am ET
Text from a letter that David Goldman wrote and was read to media, dated Dec. 24.

___

Please accept my most sincere and humblest gratitude for getting the truth to Brazilian and American citizens alike and for your help to make our reunion possible.

I am grateful for the so many truly amazing and wonderful people who have put forth an extraordinary and tremendous effort to reunite our family with our beautiful Sean.

Please know that my love and the rest of Sean's family's love for him knows no boundaries and we will go to the ends of the Earth to protect him and shower him with every ounce of love that we have.

It is now time for our new beginning, the rebirth of our family at such a special time of the year. I hope the momentum keeps growing and the attention does not fade because there are more fathers and mothers and children to reunites.

God bless you all,

David

  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091224/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_us_custody_battle_text_1     

I'm so pleased that he has his son back! Now I'll hold my breath till that plane lifts off the ground and lands in the good old US of A! Then you know he will be safe!  ::DancingSantaMonkey1::

Merry Christmas David, you got the best gift of all!  ::santawink::

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-12-23-brazil-custody_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
(http://i.usatoday.net/news/_photos/2009/12/23/seangoldmanx.jpg)(http://Bianchi family photo via Reuters)


Plane lands in USA carrying boy reunited with dad
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A 9-year-old boy and his father arrived Thursday night in Florida from Brazil, marking the end of a five-year custody battle that spanned two continents.

Sean Goldman and his father, David Goldman of Tinton Falls, N.J., landed in Orlando on a private jet chartered by NBC. Most media were kept far away.

They reunited earlier in the day in Rio de Janeiro, ending an epic battle that pitted Sean's father against the boy's Brazilian stepfather, who had cared for Sean since his mother died last year. The dispute reached the highest levels of the U.S. and Brazilian governments and strained relations between the two countries.

"It is now time for our new beginning, the rebirth of our family at such a special time of the year," the boy's father, David Goldman of Tinton Falls, N.J., wrote in a letter read to reporters after his departure.

"Today, the abduction has ended," said Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican who was with Sean's father in Brazil and supported him.
<snip>

 
Brazilian family wants to bring boy back from US

By TALES AZZONI, Associated Press Writer Tales Azzoni, Associated Press Writer 45 mins ago
SAO PAULO – The Brazilian family of a 9-year-old boy returned by court order to his U.S. father said Tuesday it will fight to regain custody.

Lawyers for the relatives of Sean Goldman said they will push forward with a request from his Brazilian grandmother to allow the boy to make his own wishes known in court.

The request was initially denied, but the Supreme Court has not issued a final ruling on that matter. The court does not convene until February.

Last week, a Supreme Court judge ordered Sean returned to his father, David Goldman, of Tinton Falls, New Jersey. The two have since returned to the United States.

Just before delivering Sean to his dad last week, the Brazilian relatives said they would end a legal battle to keep the boy in Brazil. On Tuesday, however, their attorneys said the family was only obeying the judge's order, not stopping its legal fight.

"Sean's early delivery does not end the legal process," the lawyers said in a statement. "The legal process in Brazil is not over."

The lawyers said that if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the grandmother, Silvana Bianchi, the decision will be relayed to American authorities so the boy can be heard.

Goldman's lawyer in Brazil, Ricardo Zamariola Jr., did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Bianchi has always maintained that Sean wanted to stay in Brazil.

Goldman said in an interview aired Monday on NBC's "Today" show that the boy was happy in the U.S., but hadn't yet called him "Dad."

Just three days before Christmas and following a five-year custody battle, Supreme Court Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes lifted a stay on a federal court's ruling ordering Brazilian relatives to hand over the boy. Sean was reunited with his father on Christmas Eve and returned to the United States the same day.

Sean had lived in Brazil since 2004, when Goldman's ex-wife, Bruna Bianchi, brought him to her native country for what was supposed to be a two-week vacation. She stayed, divorced Goldman and remarried, and Goldman, now 42, began legal efforts to get Sean back.

After Bianchi died last year in childbirth, her Brazilian husband, Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, a prominent divorce attorney in Rio de Janeiro, won temporary custody. Despite numerous court findings in favor of Goldman, Lins e Silva was able numerous times to delay relinquishing custody.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/lt_brazil_us_custody_battle

Oh, I think that is fair -- but wait, let him give testimony after he has spent the same amount of time with his Dad that he spent in Brazil.  Then let's see what the young man has to say.
My prayers for Sean and his family as they enter into this time of adjustment.

agreed!

http://themoderatevoice.com/58811/new-jersey-congressman-chris-smith-the-real-hero-in-the-sean-goldman-custody-battle/

New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, the Real Hero in the Sean Goldman Custody Battle

http://www.kelowna.com/2010/01/11/foundation-to-lend-clout-in-custody-fight-child-abduction-canadian-seeks-to-get-son-6-out-of-brazil/
Foundation to lend clout in custody fight; Child Abduction; Canadian seeks to get son, 6, out of Brazil

Monday, January 11th, 2010 | 3:10 am

Canwest News Service

The U.S. foundation that helped an American dad win custody of a son living in Brazil is making a Canadian abduction case its number one priority.

The Bring Sean Home Foundation leveraged legal and political contacts to bring a nine-year-old boy back to the United States following a custody battle between his New Jersey-based father and Brazilian stepfather.

Having scored one victory, the foundation plans to use its resources to help Francois Larivee repatriate his six-year-old son Lucas, illegally taken from Montreal to Brazil in 2004 by the boy's mother. Although Mr. Larivee has won two court decisions in Brazil and has followed The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction to the letter of the law, his case is stuck in a post-appeal process. Back in October 2007, "we were told it was a priority case, and a decision rendered quickly, but here we are still waiting," he said.

Mr. Larivee said his legal battle has "been a nightmare," and the only access he has to his son these days is bimonthly phone calls. Mr. Larivee has learned Portuguese so that he can talk with his son. But he is now worried that following the successful return of Sean Goldman to the United States, his ex-partner will cut off communication.

Watching David Goldman reunite with his son Sean has been bittersweet for Mr. Larivee. The same court that set aside the stay order preventing Mr. Goldman from taking his son home is the same court that has dragged out his own case.

"The two cases were so similar … and in some ways [Mr. Larivee's] case is more egregious," said Mark DeAngelis, co-founder of the Bring Sean Home Foundation.
<snip>

N.J. father David Goldman pens memoir about 5-year international custody battle for son

Published: Monday, December 20, 2010, 9:26 AM     Updated: Monday, December 20, 2010, 9:28 AM
 By The Associated Press
 Eraldo Peres/The Associated ss
(http://media.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/photo/9136022-large.jpg)
Tinton Falls resident David Goldman, right, is writing a book about his five-year quest to regain custody of his son from the boy's Brazilian stepfather and grandmother.

NEW YORK — A New Jersey man whose 5-year custody battle for his son became international news has a book coming out next year.

David Goldman's "A Father's Love" will be released in May by Viking, the publisher announced today.

In 2004, Goldman was married and living in Tinton Falls when his wife Bruna Bianchi flew to Brazil with their 4-year-old son, Sean, for what was supposed to be a vacation. She announced she was staying there with Sean, later divorced Goldman and remarried.

Goldman spent years in American and Brazilian courts before he finally brought Sean home in 2009. Bianchi died in 2008 in childbirth, but Sean's Brazilian stepfather and grandmother continued to fight for custody in Brazil.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/david_goldman_pens_memoir_abou.html