David Goldman and his son, Sean, before his mother took him to Brazil.
Photo courtesy www.bringseanhome.org
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March 31, 2009
A four-year struggle to reunite a New Jersey dad with his son in Brazil has reached the top echelons of power.
On March 24, the United States Senate unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the Brazilian government to return the child to his father, Tinton Falls resident David Goldman.
Sean’s mother, Bruna Goldman, took him to Brazil in 2004 on what was supposed to be a vacation, but never returned. She subsequently divorced Goldman under Brazilian law and remarried.
Bruna Goldman died in childbirth in August, and her Brazilian widower continues to claim custody of the boy.
The Senate vote, cosponsored by Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), and Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), followed a similarly unanimous vote in the House of Representatives and one in the NJ State Senate.
They all called on Brazil to abide by the Hague Convention on the International Abduction of Children, of which both countries are signatories. The convention is seen as more favorable than local Brazilian courts to the claims of a father like Goldman, whose child has been taken to another country.
The White House has also been involved in the battle. Two days before the Senate vote, on Saturday, March 14, around 200 protestors rallied across the street in Lafayette Park calling for Sean’s return while President Barack Obama met in the White House with Brazilian’s president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.
The subject was said to be high on their agenda, though there was no report issued on the exchange. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also expected to mention the Goldman case to da Silva during his visit.
David’s sister, Leslie Goldman of South Orange, was at the rally. “With Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama involved, we have to get Sean back soon or it won’t happen,” she said at the rally.
In a March 26 interview, her father, Barry, sounded equally desperate. He said if the escalating levels of government intervention don’t bring the boy home, “there is no chance at all.”
The family wanted to reach out to lawmakers earlier, he said, but were advised by their lawyers to keep their struggle more low-key.
“We had to ratchet up the fight,” said Barry Goldman, who lives in Ocean Township with his wife, Ellie. He credits Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ Dist. 4) with spearheading the new offensive and for helping win David access to his son.
David Goldman, now 42, a former model turned boat skipper, visited Sean last month, only the second time he had been allowed to see the boy since his late wife took him there.
The visit in February also followed a letter to the Brazilian president from Lautenberg and Menendez asking for his help in reuniting father and son.
When Bruna died in August, hours after giving birth to a daughter — her first child by the man she married after divorcing David — those fighting for Sean’s return thought he would be handed back to his sole living biological parent.
But the fight has intensified. In recent months, both her family and her widower’s have gone on the offensive with television and print interviews. They have claimed that Bruna was unhappy in her marriage to David, and that he had a violent temper, assertions denied by people close to them both in New Jersey.
Barry Goldman said he believes most Brazilians sympathize with the Goldman family’s plight and would support a father’s right to bring up his son, but both Bruna’s family and that of the man she married are wealthy and very influential. Bruna’s husband’s grandfather, according to Barry Goldman, was a founder of the political party to which the Brazilian president belongs and was involved in establishing the country’s Supreme Court.
Of the 3,000 children involved in international abductions, around 70 are in Brazil, according to the U.S. State Department.
Resolved
THE SENATE RESOLUTION of March 24 was authored by Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), and Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), urging Brazil to comply with the requirements of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and reunite Sean Goldman with his father in the United States.
“For nearly five years, David Goldman has been fighting to be reunited with his son Sean,” Lautenberg said. “Passing this resolution puts the United States Senate on record urging Brazil to comply with international law. Sean belongs at home with his father, and I will keep working until Sean returns to the United States.”
“This has been a heartbreaking story of a New Jersey family torn apart, but we want to help ensure that it has the best ending possible,” Menendez said. “Amidst the international legal and diplomatic wrangling that is ongoing, there is one fact at the core of this case that cannot be forgotten — a young boy and his father have been kept apart for years and prevented from reuniting. The Brazilian authorities must realize that there are basic issues of family at the heart of this matter and that Sean rightfully belongs with his father.”
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