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.