michaelb,
I must have messed up with the links I posted somehow.
Here are the stories.
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Father sees hopeful sign in global custody battle
Tinton Falls man is heartened by ruling of Brazilian court
by Jill Huber
NJJN Bureau Chief/Monmouth
March 3, 2009
There may some light on the horizon for David Goldman, the Tinton Falls resident whose eight-year-old son remains in Brazil, a seeming pawn in a custody battle that has drawn global attention.
Not only was Goldman briefly reunited with Sean in Rio de Janeiro last month, but he is hopeful that international pressure and the latest court ruling may open the door for Sean’s return to the United States.
Goldman traveled to Rio on Feb. 9 for a precious few hours with Sean, who has been living in Brazil ever since Goldman’s wife Bruna took him there four years ago and filed for divorce. Bruna later died, but not before getting remarried to a Brazilian man who is now acting as the boy’s guardian.
Spectators, family friends, and supporters say the reunion was somewhat awkward at first, until the boy began to warm up to the father, with whom he had had a close relationship.
On Feb. 11, a panel of judges ruled that Goldman’s case to regain custody of his son will be heard in a federal court in Brazil, rather than in a Rio de Janeiro state court.
Goldman and his team had sought to transfer the case to the federal level, which is more knowledgeable of the mandate of the international Hague Abduction Convention, and presumably more favorable to the claims of a father like Goldman whose child has been taken to another country.
“I have been fighting in the Brazilian courts under the Hague treaty for four-plus years,†Goldman said in a message on the
www.bringseanhome.org website. “The Brazilian courts have ignored these [Hague Convention] orders. They have ruled as if it were a simple custody case, where the mother always gets the child.â€
A Hague Convention application may be filed when a child is taken or retained across an international border away from the child’s habitual residence without the consent of a parent who has rights of custody. According to the convention, the child must be promptly returned to the habitual residence unless the return creates a risk to the youngster.
Goldman’s ordeal began on June 16, 2004, when his wife, Bruna, took Sean, then age four, to her native Brazil for a purported two-week vacation. When Goldman dropped them off at Newark Liberty International Airport, he expected to see them again in 14 days.
But upon her arrival in her home country, Bruna called Goldman at their Tinton Falls home and said she intended to remain in Brazil with their son. Goldman then began an intensive campaign to bring Sean home.
As the custody proceedings were underway, Bruna obtained a Brazilian divorce from Goldman and married a Brazilian attorney. She became pregnant by her new husband, but died in childbirth in 2008. Goldman’s legal advisers maintain that Bruna’s wealthy and influential family and her second husband have continued to prevent him from seeing his son, despite the death of the boy’s mother. (Goldman had made previous, unsuccessful trips to Brazil in an effort to see Sean.)
After returning to the United States on Feb. 12 from his most recent Brazilian journey, Goldman was scheduled to travel to Washington, DC, to further discuss the custody case with U.S. and Brazilian government officials.
According to a report in The New York Times, the case may even be on the agenda of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as she prepares for a meeting this month between President Barack Obama and Brazil’s president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.
Goldman hopes that the continued international focus on Sean’s situation will result in a long-awaited homecoming for his son.
“I loved seeing him and his father togetherâ€
ON JUNE 16, 2004, Ellie and Barry Goldman of Wayside had brunch with their son and daughter-in-law, David and Bruna, and their four-year-old grandson, Sean.
At the meal’s conclusion, David Goldman left to drive his wife and son to the airport so the two could fly to Brazil for a two-week vacation. Ellie and Barry Goldman bid them a fond farewell as they left the restaurant.
“It was such a pleasant meal,†Ellie Goldman told NJ Jewish News. “There was nothing suspicious going on, nothing out of the ordinary. We never guessed what was about to happen.â€
What happened, of course, was that when Bruna Goldman arrived in her home country, she called David Goldman at their Tinton Falls home on June 24, 2004 and said she was staying in Brazil with their son.
Since that fateful phone call, David Goldman has waged a legal battle to bring Sean home, Ellie Goldman said. Bruna would later remarry and die in childbirth; her new husband is acting as the boy’s guardian and has so far prevailed in attempts to retain custody
Although Goldman, 42, made repeated, albeit unsuccessful, attempts to visit Sean in Brazil during the last four years, he arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Feb. 9 and finally saw his son, who soon will celebrate his ninth birthday.
David has spent $350,000 in legal and travel expenses on the custody case, but every dollar was worth the expenditure when David and her grandson came face-to-face, Ellie Goldman said.
“It meant everything to David to see Sean, to hug him, and laugh with him,†she said. “What happened to Sean has disrupted all our lives and caused a lot of emotional turmoil. We’ve tried to give David support, guidance, and hope, but it’s so hard to see your child go through this.â€
David Goldman’s sister, Leslie Goldman, lives in South Orange with her husband and two children. But Sean is David’s only child, and becoming a husband and father changed her son’s life; he felt he was living the American dream, Ellie Goldman said.
“He was so happy then,†she said. “He loved his wife and son very much. His life with Bruna is over, but he wants and needs his little boy back.â€
Sean and his two cousins often played together, she added.
“They still ask about him, she said. “They miss him.â€
And Ellie, a program analyst at Fort Monmouth, and Barry, who retired from his charter boat fishing business, can’t forget the happy times either.
“We saw Sean three or four times each week. We often had breakfast together on weekends and we got together for barbecues and all kinds of fun events,†Ellie Goldman said. “I used to take him to nursery school. He was a loving, affectionate, expressive boy. I loved seeing him and his father together — they were real buddies.â€
She realizes that Sean may find it difficult to readjust when he comes home, but hopes professional help and the love of friends and family will ease the transition.
“We’ll have to play it slow,†she said. “We don’t want to make him feel like a stranger, and it may take time for him to relate to us again. Things are very different now.â€
On March 17, friends of David Goldman will travel by chartered bus to Washington to stage a rally across from the White House in support of his efforts.
Additional information about the rally and the Goldmans’ story is available at
www.bringseanhome.org.
— JILL HUBER
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