SEAN GOLDMAN - 2004 Int'l Abduction Story - REUNITED WITH HIS DAD 12/24/09

[Lovinlife]

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.


David Goldman, left, arrives at Rio de Janeiro's airport.

[cookie]

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 ....

[2NJSons_Mom]

 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.


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

[2NJSons_Mom]

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

[2NJSons_Mom]

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--

[islandmonkey]

 

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

Thank you God for answering this dad's prayers 

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

[2NJSons_Mom]

 
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.


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

[MuffyBee]

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.

[Sister]

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

[MuffyBee]

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

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>

[MuffyBee]

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>

[MuffyBee]

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

[Sister]

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

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.
 

[2NJSons_Mom]

 

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     

[BooMonkey]

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

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.
 

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! 

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

[MuffyBee]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-12-23-brazil-custody_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip



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>

[2NJSons_Mom]

 
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

[Sister]

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.

[cookie]

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!

[MuffyBee]

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