Help Reunite a Father With His Son!
Four years ago Sean Goldman was abducted to Brazil by his mother Bruna Bianchi Goldman and her parents Silvana Bianchi Ribeiro and Raimundo Ribeiro. After her recent death, the man recently married to Bruna, João Paulo Lins e Silva, was shockingly awarded custody by a Brazilian court. Ever since the kidnapping, David Goldman has waged a legal battle to have Sean returned as required by U.S. law and an international treaty signed by both the U.S. and Brazil.
On June 16th, 2004, Bruna Goldman traveled with her son Sean from their home in New Jersey to her native Brazil. The next day, she informed her husband David Goldman that their marriage was over and that she and Sean would be living in Brazil. This unilateral action was a violation of the Hague Treaty on International Child Abduction, a treaty signed by many countries including both the United States and Brazil. It states that Sean should have been returned to the United States for a joint custody hearing.
Instead, Bruna Goldman was granted custody by a local court in Brazil. According to the United States Department of State and the Brazilian Central Authority, this decision was also a violation of the treaty. However, the Brazilian Central Authority which oversees the treaty is advisory only. As a result, David began the appeals process, which in Brazil can take years to complete.
In August 2008, Bruna died tragically in Brazil. After Bruna's passing, David Goldman assumed he would finally be reunited with Sean. Unfortunately, David finds himself in the midst of another custody battle, this time with Bruna's new husband, João Paulo Lins e Silva. Mr. Lins e Silva has also filed to replace David Goldman's name with his own on a birth certificate issued for Sean in Brazil, claiming socio-affective paternity which would effectively erase the child's true paternity.Since 2004, David Goldman has fought a desperate and expensive legal battle for custody of his son, first with his wife and now against João Paulo Lins e Silva, a prominent lawyer specializing in international family law. Since the original abduction, David has never been permitted to see Sean and just this past October, Mr. Lins e Silva failed to make Sean available for a scheduled visitation with David and still has not been held accountable for violating a federal court order in Brazil. According to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, Sean should have been returned to the United States within six weeks of the abduction for a custodial hearing because his habitual residence had been established in the United States.
For more information on this tragic case and a list of additional ways you can help David Goldman, please visit https://bringseanhome.org/
To sign a petition to return Sean to his father please go to the link:
https://thepetitionsite.com/1/return-abducted-minor-sean-goldman-to-his-father
Note:
I checked it out on the web the story is very sad and was on Dateline. Click on the link below to read the story. Scroll down and watch the Dateline video ~~ lots of photos, etc. Very Sad! I hope David gets his son back after 4 long years. It doesn't seem possible that this could be happening in this day and age!! Unbelievable!!
Here's the link: https://insidedateline.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/02/11/1790785.aspx
