David Goldman with his son, Sean, before the boy was moved to Brazil four years ago by his mother.
A Brazilian official says a federal court in that nation shouldn't give absolute custody to either party fighting over Sean Goldman, the 8-year-old Tinton Falls boy whose father has waged a four-year battle to return the boy to the U.S.
Instead, "top Brazilian human rights official" Paulo Vannuchi says there should be a negotiated end to the disagreement, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Vannuchi told a congressional hearing in Brasilia Wednesday that the boy should stay in Brazil but that his biological father, David Goldman, should have liberal visitation rights, the AP reports.
Goldman's late ex-wife, Bruna, took Sean to her native Brazil on a purported vacation four years ago and never returned.
She died last year in a second childbirth, and her second husband has resisted Goldman's efforts to gain custody of Sean.
the mom is deceased..he should be given 100% custody..this is bullshit. obama should send someone down there and get his kid back once and for all. very sad story
This is an outrage. What is Obama and Clinton waiting for? This dad deserves his son to be returned immediately…..too much time has been wasted…
The Brazilians will not admit they broke an international agreement, the Hague agreement, on child kidnapping. Brazil and USA both signed the Hague agreement and per the agreement, Sean should have been returned in 6 weeks. The mother kidnapped Sean and the NJ Family Court rightfully gave full custody to David. I agree with a post above this is BS. With pirates in Somolia we send the navy. Kidnapping/piracy, the difference is the cargo. This cargo is a human life that's biologically related to a father. Return the boy to his biological father, David!
The boy calls his stepfather "Dad" and has for years. Sean has lived with him for most of his live, and all the life he remembers. He had not seen his biological father for most of his life, by the biological father's own choice. (Despite numerous offers from Sean's mother and Brazilian family for him to visit Sean including paying for all his travel expenses, the biological father chose to be largely absent from his life and never visit because he wanted to continue a fight with Sean's mother.) The biological father showed up 10 days after Sean's mother's death after years of absence to take this grieving child away from everyone and everything he knows and loves. How traumatic would that have been for this grieving boy to be handed over to a stranger he hadn't spoken to in years just days after burying his mother? The boy barely understands basic english, and the biologcal father's plan was to drag him from his home, family and friends and drop him in the middle of NJ where he knew no-one?
There's a reason the Brazilian courts gave temporary custody to the stepfather. Because when the facts were laid out in front of a judge it was clear what was in the best interests of Sean. It was in his best interests to stay with the stepfather he loves and calls his Dad, the grandparents and sister he knows and loves and not be further traumatized while he's still grieving by being expelled from his home, and his life and sent to live with a virtual stranger in a foreign country. The courts did what they were supposed to do, and put the best interests of the child first.
There should be no question. The boy belongs with his biologcal father.H e was kipnapped and taken out of the country.