David Goldman, the New Jersey father who fought a five-year custody battle to reclaim his son from Brazil, has finally been reunited with his son, Sean.
For several photo of father and son, click here.
The saga goes back to 2004, when Goldman's wife, Bruna Bianchi, took then-4-year-old Sean to her native Brazil on vacation and never came back.
Goldman was already seeking his son's return under an international treaty that covers cross-border child abductions when his former wife died last year while giving birth to a daughter with her new Brazilian husband.
Her death generated more interest in the case, which has been discussed this year by top-level diplomats in Washington and the Brazilian capital, Brasilia. It also has been the subject of congressional hearings in the U.S. and has prompted protests in both countries.
In an interview Monday on NBC's "Today" show, Goldman said the boy is happy to be with him but still needs time to adjust, it has been five years that he has lived with his step-father with contact with his mother's parents, all of whom may have brainwashed the boy against his father who never relented in his visits and attempts to regain custody.
The case sets many precedents. It indicates that courts honor and uphold blood relations and years of "bonding" do not change the fact that the child was taken illegally by his mother in the first place. It is nice to see two nations recognize these basic "rights" and not focus on the family the boy has spent more time with. Now, if only the same pricples would be applied to a,l contested adoptions and to alleged kidnappings that resulted in fraudulent adoptions.
The precedents are very applicable because in none of these cases did the abductors harm the children physically in any way. They cared for them lovingly - with the exception of denying them their biological, and legal, parent.
2 comments:
In this case the rights of the parents have been put before the rights of the child -- from the get-go. The father's legal snatch-back of the child is just as harmful to the child as the mother's illegal initial snatch. The harm being done to the child is many times worse than the harm done to the adults involved.
Yes indeed. Child abduction harms children.
I do not mean to suggest that Sean's return home will be seamless and without the need for therapy, nor do I know if I would have done what Goldman did, but he did not "snatch" his child. He proceeded through legal channels which return abducted children. For that not to have happened would only encouraged more child abductions.
I would also like to point out that Goldman has said he would not stop visitation and would not do to Sean's step-father and grandmother what was done to him. He seems to have his son's best interest at heart.
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