Remarkably, the media seems to have dropped their coverage of David Goldman and his fight to get his son back from Brazil. Goldman did, after all, finally succeed in getting his son, Sean, out of Brazil just before Christmas.
Since then, Goldman has begged for privacy as he and his son get reacquainted. And surely by Christmas Eve, both Goldman and the media were thoroughly sick of one another. So, end of story.
The one thing I kept wanting to hear, however, never came, or if it did, I missed it. What did Sean want? Did he have any say in the decision? Did anyone even ask him?
While everyone is celebrating that David Goldman finally got his son back after a five-year-long custody battle, I keep worrying about that poor little boy. He speaks very little English; virtually everything he’s known and loved is in Brazil. And yet suddenly he’s hustled onto a plane with someone he hardly knows and whisked off to a strange land where no one speaks Portuguese.
Legally, I suppose it doesn’t matter what a nine-year-old boy wants or thinks. Eventually he will re-learn English and re-adapt to life in the U.S. But it breaks my heart to think what he must be going through right now.
I just read up on that because I’d never heard of it. If a December 19 article in Time is accurate, David Goldman didn’t visit his son for several years. Sure, after the mother died, one might give the knee-jerk reaction that the kid should go to his biological father, but it would have been nice if the guy tried to see the kid before his ex-wife’s death. I smell a rat.
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I heard that too. Also heard that in the five years he was fighting for custody, Goldman never made any effort to learn to speak Portuguese. Whatever games the adults have been playing, it’s Sean who’s paying the price and I think it sucks
You are so ill-informed! Get your facts straight before you go around expressing your opinion about such matters. I suggest you watch the two-hr. Dateline special from Jan. 8th, if you can still access it somewhere. Or spend some time on the BringSeanHome.org website. David Goldman had been fighting for his son since the day his wife Bruna called to tell him she wasn’t coming back to the U.S. and demanded full custody of Sean. He made 15 trips to Brazil in five years, appearing for every court hearing. Bruna’s family is who barred him from seeing Sean, even going to the extent of dissappearing with Sean when the courts granted David visitation. He also spent an estimated $500,000 fighting for him. So, the reality is anything but a “knee-jerk” reaction. Where the heck do you get your news from anyways?
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First of all, I don’t “go around” expressing my opinion. I do it here on my blog and people have to come here to read it.
Second, if you’ll read more carefully, you’ll see I said nothing negative about David Goldman. I’m fully aware of how he lost his son and what he went through to get him back. I was simply expressing concern for Sean and what must be feeling right now (confusion, conflicting emotions, difficulty communicating, being suddenly thrust into unfamiliar surroundings, loss of friends, etc.). It must be overwhelming for a little boy.
P.S. Oops, just noticed the above was a reply to Pandionna’s comment. My bad.
Indeed Sean has been heard by psicologists named by the court and didn’t oppose to go back to the USA with his father. He didn’t have any step father here in Brasil, only an “in advance” court order to stay with his passed mother lover until the case was resolved. This man, belongs to a powerfull brazilian family of lawyers and got this “in advance” court order very unsually and suspiciouslly for it was already public Sean had a legitimate father fighting for him since the first month of his abduction, both in US and Brazilian courts. David was told by his lawyers not to visit his son in order of making unmistakable his disagreement with the abduction. Like we or not, this strategy proved efficient. David showed recorded talks of Bruna recognizing he was a good father and conditioning his visits for giving up to live with his own son. The brasilian gandparents and the mother’s lover showed great despise for the wellbeing of Sean just delaying his return, which was certain, betting Seans emotional integrity that time would work in their favor. The Lins e Silva dared to ask court to remove Sean father’s family name just as an example of all kind of spur maneuvres they did, as an appeal to President’s christianity to halt the last court order (let’s say his father was nothing more but a jew)!! Last but not least they refused to use a side door of the Consulate in order to expose Sean to hundreds of reporters wearing the Brazilian soccer shirt and posing banners like “”I want to stay in Barzil”. That’s never true love.
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I agree with you. It is despicable for any adult to use a child as a political pawn. I am relieved and happy that Sean is with his father again and am confident that every effort is being made to ensure his happiness and well being.