NJ dad to be reunited with son, 9, in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — David Goldman’s bitter five-year battle to regain custody of his son neared conclusion Wednesday, when the child’s Brazilian family halted its legal efforts as a court-ordered deadline for delivering the boy loomed.

Goldman has said repeatedly that until he is on a plane heading to the U.S. with 9-year-old Sean at his side, he would not feel relief. But with a court ordering the boy’s handover this morning at the U.S. Consulate, the end appeared to be in sight.

Goldman’s fight against a powerful family of Rio de Janeiro lawyers — a David vs. Goliath matchup in a nation where the wealthy are used to coming out on top — shifted in recent months, legally and among ordinary Brazilians.

The case was once largely viewed through a nationalistic lens. But with Goldman’s persistent fighting, it has come to be seen on talk shows and in neighborhood bars as a dad simply trying to be with his son.

Which is how Goldman has always framed it.

“Sean is my family; Sean is my son. It is our right to be together, not just a rule of law, not just a treaty, not he’s Brazilian, not he’s American, not he’s from anywhere. He’s my son, and I should be able to raise my son, and he should know his dad,” Goldman said this week.

Goldman, of Tinton Falls, N.J., won a big legal victory late Tuesday when Brazil’s chief justice upheld a lower court’s ruling that ordered Sean returned to him. Sean has lived in Brazil since Goldman’s ex-wife, Bruna Bianchi, took him to her native country for what was supposed to be a two-week vacation in 2004. Last year she died in childbirth.

Sean’s stepfather, Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, has continued the fight, winning temporary custody in Brazil of the boy. He looked prepared to keep him in the family’s massive compound with multiple buildings surrounded by tropical trees, a large wall and gate where expensive SUVs pass through and security guards keep 24-hour watch.

Lins e Silva, a prominent divorce attorney in his father’s family law firm, used all legal means available to keep the boy in Brazil. Despite numerous court rulings in favor of Goldman, Lins e Silva continuously found an appeal route that delayed a handover.

But those court battles are now over.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey who has strongly supported Goldman for a year and is in Brazil with him, said Goldman’s lawyers believe Brazil’s federal police are authorized to remove the child from the family if the court deadline is not met. He also said the international police agency Interpol has been notified to make sure Sean is not spirited out of the country by his Brazilian relatives.

Goldman declined to comment Wednesday, as did the Brazilian family’s attorney, Sergio Tostes, who referred all questions to his office.

An aide for Tostes said the legal fight was over.

“It is certain the family will not pursue any more legal channels,” the aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the matter.

Despite that and a federal court order that the boy be handed over by 9 a.m. (6 a.m. EST) today, Smith said Goldman remains cautious.

“David is very guarded in his emotions because he had so many disappointments in his past, but he does believe that the 9 a.m. deadline is relatively firm,” Smith said.

Goldman has seen his son only twice in the five years since his then-wife took the child to visit her family in Brazil, then informed him she wanted a divorce. After a Brazilian court granted the divorce, a New Jersey court awarded Goldman custody of his son.

In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said a U.S. passport had been issued for Sean and delivered to his father in Brazil.

“Many people have been up through the night to provide support for the Goldman family, to maintain contact with the Brazilian government as we hopefully come to the end of this process,” Crowley told reporters. “We look forward to the reuniting of Sean Goldman with his father, David.”

Silvana Bianchi, Sean’s maternal grandmother, blamed international pressure — in particular, the U.S. Senate’s delay in renewing a trade bill worth $2.75 billion a year to Brazil — for losing her grandson.

She lodged an appeal before the Supreme Court last week, petitioning that the boy’s own testimony about where he wanted to live be heard. That was denied Tuesday by Brazil’s chief justice Gilmar Mendes.

Goldman has contended, however, that his son wants to return with him and that he has been under undue pressure from his Brazilian family for the past five years.