Happy Holidays to the Goldman Family of Tinton, NJ

This holiday season will be especially sweet for Sean Goldman and his father David Goldman.

In 2004, four year old Sean Goldman was taken to Rio by his Brazilian born mother and kept there against the wishes of his father David Goldman.  She informed him that she wanted a divorce and would be remaining in Brazil.

Thus began a 5 year ordeal for the Goldmans which only ended when the Brazilian Supreme Court ordered Sean returned to his father.  Sadly Sean's mother died during childbirth in 2008 but his stepfather and his Brazilian family insisted on fighting to keep him there.

This case shows a shocking lack of respect for the rule of law and international treaties.  Let's be clear about what happened here.  This was a case of parental abduction full stop.  His mother should have been charged with a felony.  Brazil, as a signatory to the Hague convention, should have immediately had the police at her door to have Sean sent back to the United States until his custody was resolved.,

The fact that it took so long (even after the death of his mother) is something that i find absolutely chilling.  What is the point of the Hague convention when it is so blatantly ignored for 5 years?  The fact that the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled correctly does not mitigate the outrage, it aggravates it because it confirms what was known in 2004.....Sean Goldman should not have been removed from his father in this manner.

There will undoubtedly be trauma yet to come for young Sean as he gets to know the father that he has not grown up with for most of his young life.  He will have to adjust to a new language, culture, school system and make new friends.

It is shocking that the Brazilian court system would allow this to happen in such a clear cut case.  It is also shocking that his family in Brazil insisted that the handover not happen in private and insisted on doing it before a media circus.  One can't help but wonder if the system would be even slower to act if his mother hadn't died so tragically.

Putting a child through this absurd process is abuse.  I'm sorry but i can't come up with a kinder word to describe what has happened here.  His family in Brazil, along with the cooperation of several levels of the Brazilian judiciary committed abuse.  They may not be guilty of a crime in a strict legal sense, however there is no question that they are guilty of a moral crime.

A final chilling thought:  how many other cases like this are out there without the sunlight of publicity moving things in the right direction??