The Bring Sean Home Foundation sent an important message to The International Campaign, demanding that kidnapped minor Sean Goldman be returned to his father. Goldman and other parents need Americans to contact their representatives in Congress with a message about the importance of their support. What follows is the press release from the Foundation, which contains information about how to support David Goldman and other similarly left behind parents:
Goldman and other left behind parents will address the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the U.S. House of Representatives, Longworth House Office Buiding, 1310 on Wednesday, December 2nd, Washington D.C.
November 23, 2009
Dear Friends and Supporters,
As Thanksgiving approaches and the holiday season is upon us, we are reminded that the Holidays represent an opportunity to enjoy time with family and to appreciate the people we are closest to in life. Imagine if you will, having to spend your sixth holiday season apart from your only child, taken from you against your will, feeling helpless to bring him back despite the fact that international law is clearly on your side. Well that is the reality that David and Sean Goldman find themselves in as 2009 draws to a close. If you are as outraged about this continued injustice as all of us in the Bring Sean Home community are, there is something you can do today to help put an end to this nightmare.
The Bring Sean Home Foundation is announcing its “Bring Sean Home for the Holidays” campaign to make U.S. and Brazilians officials aware that this travesty of justice continues daily with no end in sight, almost six months after Federal Judge Pinto of the Rio de Janeiro Court of First Instance ordered Sean home immediately, citing a court-appointed evaluation by three independent psychologists which stated clearly that Sean has been subjected to a violent form of parental alienation by his abductors. We need our elected officials to stand up for the rights of the Goldman’s and bring this nightmare to an end once and for all. As Ken Thompson, an Australian father whose son was abducted to Singapore said recently, “If you abduct a child from a country and remove it from its other parent and its extended family and its culture, it is one of the most extreme forms of child abuse that you can inflict upon a child,” and we couldn’t agree with him more.
What you can do to help:
SAVE-THE-DATE for the December 2nd hearing in Washington, D.C., 10:30 am in the Longworth House Office Buiding - Room 1310 (Link to Google Map)
David Goldman, along with other left-behind parents and State Department officials, will be testifying before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the House of Representatives. We expect there to be considerable media interest in this event, and ask that you CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE today (it’s a short week so calls Tuesday and Wednesday morning would be best) and ask them to attend. Of course we’d love to have you all there in person as well – the hearings are open to the general public. If you are not sure who your Rep is, please click on https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml and enter your zip code.
We also ask that when you speak to the staffers for these Congressmen/women on the phone, you take the opportunity to stress the importance of the issue of international child abduction, and encourage them to lend their support by co-sponsoring two bills introduced recently by Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, H.R. 3240 (The International Child Abduction Prevention Act of 2009) and H.R. 2702 (The Suspend Brazil’s GSP Trade Status Bill). These two bills will help reduce the number of abductions and give the parent victims and their children a realistic hope of one day being reunited on American soil and restoring the bond and loving relationship that was shattered by the abduction.
Below we have provided you with some talking points to help get your message across effectively with your Congressional Reps:
1). This will be the first hearing in Congress on the issue of international parental child abduction in 10 years.
In the meantime, the number of abductions continues to increase at an alarming rate – in the last three years, reported international child abductions increased 60 percent. There are currently approximately 1,900 open abduction cases involving 2,800 children abducted from the U.S. to other countries. Their attendance sends an important message that our government is going to help protect the rights of its most vulnerable citizens – our children.
2). There is a lot riding on the outcome of the Goldman case. As a treaty partner and signatory to the Hague Convention, Brazil’s non-compliance is staggering, ESPECIALLY given the fact that Sean Goldman’s sole surviving biological parent is being denied his legal right to raise his son.
It has been 5-½ years since Sean’s abduction, almost 1-½ years since Sean’s mother’s death, and almost 6 months since a federal judge ordered Sean returned to his father in the US, and yet father and son remain apart as the seemingly endless appeals process drags on in Brazil. It is long past time that we end this nightmare for the Goldman family and reunite this father and son, and we need the support of our elected officials.
3). Tell your Rep directly that you would like them to attend the hearing, if possible (Dec 2 @10:30am in Long worth 1310), and that you would like them to co-sponsor H.R. 3240 (The International Child Abduction Prevention Act of 2009) and H.R. 2702 (The Suspend Brazil’s GSP Trade Status Bill).
These two bills are complimentary and provide the necessary tools our government needs to reduce the number of abductions and force non-compliant countries to improve their track record of returning abducted children to their home countries.
If you would like more specific information on the proposed legislation before calling, please visit the www.BringSeanHome.org website’s following links:
http://bringseanhome.org/hr3240.html http://bringseanhome.org/hr2702.html
For those of you who are not accustomed to calling your Congressional Reps, we suggest that you ask for the name of the staffer you speak with, ask specifically that they pass your request to attend the December 2 hearing along to the Rep’s scheduler, and follow up with them. Also do not be shy about asking them to get back to you on the two bills pending in Congress. Remember, they work for you. An important issue like international child abduction deserves their attention: don’t be shy about requesting their support and co-sponsorship on the two bills mentioned above.
You can also get more involved in the “Bring Sean Home for the Holidays” campaign by visiting http://bringseanhome.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2200. We also you encourage you to spread the word among your friends and family about the campaign, forward this email to your contacts, and post messages on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. There is strength in numbers and we can make a difference.
And lastly, when you sit down with your families this Thanksgiving, please keep David and Sean in your thoughts and prayers. Together we can end this injustice and bring a father and son together again, as it should be.
Thank you for your continued support and best wishes for a Happy and Healthy Holiday season.
Sincerely,
The Bring Sean Home Foundation
See archives of David and Sean Goldman posts on this Blog here.
This is an outrage and I have written to my congressman, President Obama and Hilary Clinton to PLEASE do something to get this resoved so that father and son can come home to US! I hope all of you who read this will do the same! This has gone on long enough, and someone with some POWER needs to STEP UP !!!
What about the idea of Boycotting the OLYPICS in Rio????? Lets all get involved here .... What a wonderful Christmas gift this would be!
Posted by: Donna Sorriento | December 17, 2009 at 08:02 PM