I was watching Larry King Live, and he was interviewing David Goldman. He is an American father fighting to get his son returned from Brazil. For those of you who might not know the story, I will recount it in the terms as I have understood them to be.
David Goldman (the father) married a Brazilian national in the United States. They lived in New Jersey and had a son together. When the child was 4 years old, the mother took the child to Brazil on vacation to visit family. The father (Goldman) was to join them in 2 weeks and then they were to all return back to the U.S. together.
Shortly after leaving for the vacation, the father received a phone call from the mother stating she was staying in Brazil and wanted a divorce. She asked that he go to Brazil and sign away custody to her, and in return she would allow him to visit his son. He refused to do so and contacted an attorney in the U.S. He was told that he would have his son back within 6 weeks under laws with the Hague Convention ( an international treaty that deals with jurisdiction with international kidnapping and ensures that children who are kidnapped and taken out of their country of origin will be returned to their country of origin. To my understanding, it has to be enacted within a year of the child being taken). Anyways, the father files suit with the Brazilian government to have his child returned. It was held up in their court system for a year before it was heard. The Brazilian court ruled that there was a custody violation on behalf of the mother, but because the child had been there a year, they found that he was adapted to the society there and was to stay with his mother who illegally kidnapped him. The father was stuck and has been fighting a legal battle ever since. He was not permitted to see his son or have contact with him. The mother subsequently remarried a lawyer in Brazil and became pregnant. Well, last August she died during child birth.
After the mother's death, the father assumed there would now be nothing standing in his way to having his son back. NOT.....the child's stepfather rushed the Brazilian courts and got temporary guardianship over the child because his mother was dead and then petitioned to have the biological father's named removed from the birth certificate. The father went to Brazil to retrieve his son and was unable to do so. He was granted visitation; however, the stepfather left town with the child. The case is still in the Brazilian courts. The United States government is now stepping in under the "Hague Convention" requesting the child be returned to the United States. The father has been granted custody in the U.S. court system, as was the mother charged with kidnapping. The Brazilian courts have left the child with the stepfather thus far. Goldman did finally get a total of 6 hours visitation in February with his son for the first time in 4 years. The child is now 8!
I kind of summarized the story. It is much more detailed. You can get more info. easily on line.
Am I crazy, or is this insane. There are laws in place to return children who are kidnapped and brought out of the country. Shouldn't the courts in Brazil have immediately returned the child once they ruled that the child was illegally brought there? I am hoping now that the media is so involved and it has reached Secretary of State Clinton that the right thing in this situation will prevail. The family in Brazil appear to have cared for the child and done well by him (besides keeping him from his father).....BUT....I think they are all criminals. I will play devil's advocate and say that the child is now adjusted and attached to his family in Brazil, and it might be psychologically detrimental to him to take him away from them, as his entire maternal family (grandparents, uncles, now sibling) live there, and then place him with his father, who is more or less a stranger at this point. I am always an advocate of children and can see where this might be harmful. A major wrong was done, but the child does not know the difference at this point and is now adjusted and attached to others. The lines can get sticky when you look at it from this perspective rather than the gross injustice done to the father and child four years ago. Just something to think about
Does anyone else know about this story. If so, what is your opinion?
Comments (7)
Oh my gosh! I was so upset with this story last night. With some hard work and lots of help from our Secretary of State he should get his child back.
I wonder if there is anything the public can do. Send a letter or anything to help this father out.
It makes my blood boil!
http://bringseanhome.org/forum/showthread.php?t=123&page=6
YOu can sign a pettition and send a letter to your senetor, the president, and the secretary of state.
@betinasway2 - I did go on the site and sign the petitions. Thanks for posting the link!
Its important to remember that the child is both a citizen of Brazil and the US until he is 22. I doubt any law recognizes that the child was illegally brought there. The illegality came when the mother refused visitation or to relinquish total custody of the child. Brazil ruling that the father not see his child is prepostosrous and a violation of the Hauge Convention, probably.
That makes things complicated. This is a very, very difficult situation. I just hope whatever happens is best for the child...
First, I don't believe for one moment that you were watching anything but ANTM and you made the Larry King thing up.
Second, yes you are crazy, but that is a blog for another day.
Third, the man needs his child back. This is insanity that it has taken this long.
well here are my thoughts.
one, sence he is the biological father he should get his son back.
two- id dont think its illegal to take a kid halfway across the world, that's like taking your kid into a different state and someone complaining its kidnap ya know
idk im just browsing things and i saw yours
I've missed the story...I tend to live under a rock on those sort of things...but wow. You summed up my own thoughts well..."the child is now adjusted and attached to his family in Brazil, and it might be psychologically detrimental to him to take him away from them, as his entire maternal family (grandparents, uncles, now sibling) live there, and then place him with his father, who is more or less a stranger at this point."
You would probably like "The Year of Fog" a lot...this reminded me heavily of it.
I would like to know just what in the hell the step-father thinks he's doing, though. Seriously? Why? Give the man his kid back already! That makes me madder than anything else about this story.