NJ Dad Vows To Fight For Son Stuck In Brazil

Even dads who can get the President of the USA and the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to discuss the matter with their ranking counterparts in Brazil doesn't guarantee success when it comes to getting rightful custody and beating down the effects of Parental Alienation.MJM

Jun 4, 2009 5:16 pm US/Eastern

Monday's Court Order Reuniting David Goldman With Son After 5 Year Custody Battle Rescinded

Reporting
Don Dahler

SAO PAOLO, Brazil (CBS) ―

David Goldman has been fighting since 2004 to bring his son Sean home to New Jersey from Brazil.

BringSeanHome.org

Related Stories

• Obama Meets With Brazilian Pres. Over Custody Case
  (3/15/2009)
• NY Gov. Says Goldman's Losses Cost State Billions
  (12/20/2008)
• NJ Dad In Custody Battle Remains In Brazil
  (6/4/2009)
• Brazil Justice Denies Immediate Custody To NJ Dad
  (6/3/2009)
• Brazil Court Orders Boy Returned To American Dad
  (6/3/2009)

The New Jersey father battling to win custody of his son who has been living in Brazil for the last four years vows he'll never give up. David Goldman's hopes of finally getting his son Sean back to Tinton Falls were dealt yet another crushing setback on Wednesday, but he tells CBS 2 he's determined to keep fighting.

Goldman spoke with CBS 2's Don Dahler on Thursday afternoon, shortly after he had a joyful visit with his now 9-year-old son.

"We jumped on a trampoline together and then he was showing me his wrestling moves on the trampoline," he said. "To me, the moments are precious. I wish they were longer. It's a tragedy."

Goldman, who flew to Brazil after a federal judge ordered the family of his deceased ex-wife to give his son back to him, was crushed when at the last minute a Supreme Court justice there suspended that decision in a hand-written ruling, which was shown on Globo TV, the Brazilian network with ties to the family that holds the boy. That justice, Marco Aurelio Mello, says before Goldman can regain custody of Sean, the will of the child must be determined – a concept dismissed earlier by the federal judge as absurd.

"It is not proper to ask a child at the tender age of nine to make this decision," said Brazilian Federal Judge Rafael de Souza Pereira Pinto.

"There was a very competent report by three Brazilian court-appointed psychologists that clearly stated Sean is a victim of parental alienation syndrome," said Goldman.

It's a syndrome which has also been described as "brainwashing."

"It's tragic that my son is being victimized and I can't save him," he said.

Joao Paulo Lins e Silva is the man trying to keep Sean from his biological father. He married Sean's mother after she took the boy to Brazil and divorced Goldman. She died after childbirth last year.

"I can never give up on my son. And every time I come here and every time I go through something like this it's just a greater and greater urgency to free him," Goldman said.

The Lins e Silva law firm is considered a top organization in international child abduction cases, only usually, they represent the interests of the parent left behind, like David.

New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) is introducing a bill next week to punish Brazil economically for ignoring the Hague Convention treaty on parental abducted children.