In the United States, the rules surrounding divorce and child custody cases are relatively clear cut. But what happens when those boundaries are on an international level? For an American father, the struggle continues after 4 years.
In a news story that continues to evade national media gurus, a fight between a father and the country condoning the continued refusal to release his abducted child ....
A young man bound for law school turned famous American male fashion model continues to fight for his child from abroad after his wife's cowardly abduction of their child left him physically fatherless back in the summer of 2004. David Goldman and his wife of just a short time gave birth to Sean Goldman back in 2000.
Bruna Bianchi was a fashion student in Milan, Italy when she met David and after a wedding and the birth of their son, they both appeared to turn their life and careers towards the family unit, with David abandoning the rigors of high end fashion modeling for real estate and Bruna turning to teaching.
Then on June 16, 2004 when Sean was a toddler, the family planned a vacation to Brazil and David drove his wife and child to the New Jersey airport to catch their flight and then said their temporary "good-byes", as David would be joining his family in two weeks to finish out the family vacation. Bruna's family was from Brazil.
The horror began when her plane landed and instead of a phone call that they were safe, David heard a cold woman
telling him “Our marriage is over. Our love affair is over. I've decided to stay in Brazil.”
For the next four years, David went through legal routes to gain custody of his son. Bruna attempted to lure David to Brazil through a variety of emotional pleas and force his hand at signing over full custody without reason why, but David refused. Instead, he did what he should and contacted attorneys who informed him
NOT to step foot on international soil and let them take care of it from afar. Experts in international custody cases explained that to go there would be akin to stepping right into a carefully laid trap that would end in some type of loss for David.
David received death threats after his refusal to go. He was able to get a United States court to seize Bruna's family assets which prompted additional death threats on the desperate father's life, again disrupting his world further by forcing him to leave his own home.
Almost a year and a half after the child was taken from his father illegally by his mother without notification or cause and with the assistance of help under the Hague Convention, the Brazil court system finally admitted:
"Yes, we even see that he's [Sean] been held here unlawfully."
However, they allowed Bruna to keep the young boy because the court delay took so long and the young child had been with his mother and settled in. There was no history, complaints or evidence of abuse, drugs or alcoholism in the family, just that Bruna didn't want to be in the states and was simply done with David.
David continued to fight and thus far, the battles were with Brazil and Bruna in the winning circle.
Brazilian law allowed Bruna a divorce, although she is still legally married to David in the United States. She remarried a Brazilian Attorney who specializes in family law. And while David continued to fight relentlessly for his child, Bruna involved herself in a new life and became pregnant with her new husband's child.
In a tragic twist of fate, Bruna, 34, died due to complications while giving birth. The road seemed clear for David and Sean when he heard this bittersweet news. But the nightmare continued when it became very clear that Bruna's attorney husband decided to obtain temporary custody of Sean and even began the process of having David removed from Sean's birth certificate as the father.
Lins e Silva was arguing something he calls "socio-affective paternity" - claiming that since Sean had been living with him in Brazil for almost 4 years, he was now the most qualified person to raise him.
[T]hey're trying to argue that if you kidnap a child and take him away from his biological parent or parents long enough, that eventually he should stay with his kidnappers because those are the people he knows best and that's where he's most comfortable.
The Brazilian court system continues to overlook their error and even justify the admitted fact that they made a mistake when the horrible abduction began. Although individuals in Brazil will attempt to exploit facets of David's financial settlement with Bruna's family that had originally frozen their assets and the fact that he didn't come to Brazil during the initial days of Bruna's pleas, although doing so would have meant legal loss of his young child and could have meant his death, this dad will fight for his child until his baby is safe in his arms once again. David has exhausted nearly every resource he has in working to get his child back but continues to fight without hesitation. His spirit continues.
Sean is now 8-years-old and is being held captive in Rio de Janeiro by a man who is not the loving father, but rather a kidnapper of sorts who practices Brazilian law and is exploiting every avenue to prevent a loving father from having his child. The allowance of such a horrific act and law also serves as support for less high profile cases involving child abduction, possibly turning Brazil into the:
"Swiss Bank Account" for stolen children.
So the silent war between the United States and Brazil continues after four years of battles and with minimal support against a fortressed Brazil, David Goldman will fight for the rightful return of his son, the child that was stolen from him in a show of cowardice years ago.
David has not seen his son in over four years.
Help David get his son back. You can go here and help in this war of international atrocity where one country condones a kidnapping and even encourages future kidnappings by refusing to give Sean back to his father.