Just a few days after finally being allowed to see his son for the first time in four and a half years, a New Jersey father was careening between hope and frustration at the obstacles that still stand between him and finally regaining custody.
Less than a week after being allowed two visits with his 8-year-old son, Sean, in Brazil, David Goldman told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira Monday in New York that his late former wife’s Brazilian family is doing everything it can to keep him away from Sean and undermine their relationship.
“He’s got to get out of there. The urgency is greater than ever to bring him home,” Goldman said.
One-way trip
Until last Tuesday, Goldman had not seen Sean since June 2004, when his wife, Bruna, left with the boy, then 4, for a two-week trip to visit her family in her native Brazil. Once there, she informed Goldman that she wasn’t coming home.
She proceeded to divorce Goldman in a legal proceeding that he says violated international law, and married a lawyer who is a member of a well-connected Brazilian family. Bruna and her new husband ignored a court ruling and international laws that mandated that the boy be returned to New Jersey for a custody hearing.
Then, last August, Bruna died while giving birth to a child by her new husband. After her death, that husband petitioned a Brazilian court to take Goldman’s name off his own son’s birth certificate. But a story about Goldman’s battle to regain custody sparked interest in the case in Congress. With the help of a Congressional resolution and Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, Goldman was finally allowed to visit the boy.