December 18, 2000: Today someone posted a comment on this Blog as "Thinklogically": He/she (A/K/A "Anonymous") said that Sean's kidnapping was not an "abduction". "Thinklogically" stated the facts incorrectly. "Thinklogically" slanted the "factoids" to the point of view of the current kidnapper, Lins e Silva, Sean's Brazilian stepfather. Next, "Thinklogically" opined that it could not possibly be in a child's best interest to go live in a country he doesn't remember, with a father he's seen twice (oh, forget those first four years he lived with David Goldman before the mother kidnapped Sean). "Thinklogically" also says it would be wrong to ask Sean to leave his home, his sister, and "the only family" he knows. "Thinklogically" said, "People so often forget the perspective of the child while fighting so hard to establish an adult person's "rights" to that child."
Well, OK. Those who want a child . . . those unable to have a child . . . under the logic of "Thinklogically", can just go down to the local supermarket, pluck an infant out of a shopping cart, hide the infant for years and then . . . when the biological parent shows up to recover the child, say: "Oh too bad, so sad, the child doesn't know you and has spent so many years in the care of us (the kidnappers) . . . and we've been brainwashing the child to say he/she wants to stay here with us . . . and, well, the (young) child should be allowed to tell the court where he/she wants to stay." Or, "it would be too harmful for this child to be returned because we're (I'm) the only parent he knows."
Of course, Thinklogically" makes no mention of the fact that David Goldman parented Sean for four years, has been seeking the child since the kidnapping, has taken all of the proper legal steps, has been forced to spend more money than most people could possibly commit . . . simply to recover that child who has so wrongfully been removed from him and is now so criminally kept from him.
In the Goldman case, the custodial parent (Bruna) has died. During her lifetime, she was able to use her then husband's political influence and her parents' wealth to delay the recovery process. She was able to use Brazil's known unwillingness to abide by the terms of the Hague Convention. Of course, Lins e Silva, well-connected and himself a Hague Convention attorney, continues to use his political clout and Bruna's family's (and his) wealth to wage this extraordinary criminal abduction.
About the same time that David Goldman landed in Rio de Janeiro to recover his child yesterday, a decision was handed down, staying the proceedings. Since the court recesses for 2 months, there is more delay. But the Brazil court's decision permits a brainwashed 9-year-old child, isolated from his loving biological father for years, to testify about where he wants to live. It puts him at the mercy of his grandparents and stepfather:
"At stake is a fully formed life," Mello wrote in his ruling. "At stake is the right to come and go, the right of opinion, expression and human dignity."
Mello told reporters afterward that the coming ruling will "question the necessity of Sean, the boy, who is almost 10-years-old, to be heard directly by a judge."
Silvana Bianchi, Sean's maternal grandmother, told the privately run Agencia Estado news service she was elated with the decision. According to her, Sean, who has dual citizenship, has said he wants to remain in Brazil.
"His testimony has never been heard," she said. "As a Brazilian citizen, he deserves it. He is a child of nearly 10 and he knows quite well what he wants."
You may read the whole report here from the AP. "N.J. father David Goldman's reunion with son delayed by Brazilian Supreme Court"
See the comments from and back at "Thinklogically" here.
An important perspective is gained about David Goldman here. [An article "A father in a foreign land" - Piaui Magazine November 2008]
Here's important coverage from NBC's Today Show on December 18, 2009:
Brazzil Magazine reports on the writs of mandamus filed by Goldman's lawyers and by Brazil's AGU on Friday here. These ask for an emergency session of the court, which is in summer recess.
LATEST NEWS: See Adventures of a Gringa here "House of Cards". . . and see BringSeanHome website - at http://bringseanhome.org
Tom thanks for letting me know I erred when typing the BSH web address. I have fixed it, and hopefully, I can fix it in the comment section above. [Ah, it's a code issue -- now fixed]. Jeanne
Posted by: Jeanne M Hannah | December 20, 2009 at 07:02 AM
Thank you Jeanne for your forceful statements regarding the Goldman case. The truth is gaining momentum against the unlawful abductors and their accomplices.
One correction on your website is the link to BSH: http://www.bringseanhome.org
(not bringseanhome.com)
Posted by: Tom DeAngelis | December 19, 2009 at 11:52 PM