If you’ve been watching the news these past few days, then you know that Sean Goldman was finally reunited with his father, David, on Christmas Eve and flown back to the United States to be with his American family. After a five year ordeal that started when his mother, Bruna, kidnapped her son and took him to her native homeland, Brazil, it has all finally come to a climatic end.
David had been in an international legal battle with the Lins e Silva family for custody that had no basis when Sean’s mother died in childbirth last year and custody should have been automatically given to David, Sean’s father. Both the US and Brazil belong to the Hague Treaty which deals with international child abduction and states as their objectives:
- To secure the prompt return of children wrongfully removed to or retained in any Contracting State.
- To ensure that rights of custody and of access under the law of one Contracting State are effectively respected in the other Contracting States.
I suppose that “prompt” in Brazil means five years!
The powerful Lins e Silva family made up of (hmm!) “family lawyers” felt they were above the law or any treaties, and for the past five years this seemed to be the case! So, what turned the tide? Very simple - Money!
$2.75 billion US dollars a year to be exact! When once again David Goldman looked like he was going to be denied the right to see his son, the US Senate placed a hold on a trade deal with Brazil worth billions! What happened next? The Brazilian Supreme Court went into overtime and rapidly decided that Sean should be returned to his father immediately! It wasn’t a hard decision. ”Hmm, let me see….we keep Sean and lose billions of dollars a year or we give Sean back to his rightful guardian, his father, and we have a deal with the US that gives us billions of dollars every year.”
Maya Muses: If it weren’t for the political pressure by the US and it hitting right where it hurts (in the pocketbooks) Sean would probably still be in Brazil! The Lins e Silva family weren’t as powerful as they thought!
Photo Credits: Google Images
3 responses so far ↓
1 meredith aka skylar // Dec 28, 2009 at 4:10 pm
I saw that last night… I am so happy for both of them… I didn`t know all the details but you made a good summary of it!
BTW, wishing you & your family a Happy New Year 2010!!! Take care!
Meredith
2 Lynn // Dec 28, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Thanks Meredith, I wish you and your son a very Peaceful, Healthy and Happy New Year as well! I would gladly take down the “Bring Sean Home” banner, but the organization is fighting to help other children who have been wrongly taken away from their parents in the hopes of bringing them home as well.
3 tina // Jan 9, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Whoohoo. finally!!!
I just got wind of this.
Leave a Comment