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David and Sean Goldman
The heartwrenching international custody battle of Sean Goldman, a 9-year-old boy, has seen new developments over the past few days. The boy's Brazilian stepfather, Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, who is fighting to keep the child in Brazil with him, has spoken out in a letter to USA Today. He attempts to explain his reason for fighting for custody of the child. Furthermore, a judge ruled that David Goldman, Sean's biological father, could have unsupervised visits with his son in Brazil from Monday morning to Saturday evening.
But first, the letter that was printed in a condense format is a feeble attempt to gain public sympathy for Silva's cause. He claims that he has always had a natural relationship with Sean and that the boy even calls him Dad. He writes: "I always went to the parents' meetings at his school, we did his homework together, I put him to bed, common things between parents and children."
Silva goes on to state that Sean speaks very little English and that he believes his family is Silva and his half-sister. He says that Sean is willing to have contact with David Goldman but in a "healthy and balanced way." He also has this to say: "We are running the risk of the child's best interest being violated, torn up, thrown away by North American political interests. The only person being penalized in this story is Sean, who runs the risk of losing everything that really makes him feel safe." Silva has hired a psychologist to evaluate Sean and transcripts of the evalution reveal the child, whom Goldman believes is brainwashed, says that he will "break down totally" is returned to his dad in New Jersey and that he wants to remain in Brazil.
No doubt Silva is quite displeased with a recent court ruling by a federal judge that allows David Goldman to visit Sean from Monday morning through Saturday evening unsupervised in Brazil. Previous visits were always chaperoned and Goldman claimed that this made his visits unnatural and tense, and that upon returning home Sean would be interrogated by his stepfather to find out what had happened between father and son. Goldman planned to return to Brazil quickly in order to spend time with Sean.
It is unclear when this bitter custody dispute will end, although many feel it might be soon due to the Brazilian Supreme Court's ruling that it did not have jurisdiction over the case and sent it back to lower courts last week. During this decision, it was stated that the court could not rule over the Hague Convention, which maintains that children must be quickly returned from one member nation to another if taken. Many see this as a signal that Goldman will regain custody, as Brazil is a signatory member.
This gripping family drama has caught the attention of many, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sean has certainly been psychologically harmed by the custody fight and although both men have recognized this, neither side is ready to give up the fight for Sean. It makes one wonder: If the two fathers brought Sean to King Solomon to resolve the custody dispute (as in the Bible) and he ordered the boy split in half so that both men could have a piece of Sean, would the real father back off in order to keep Sean whole?
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Comments
This Mr. Lins e Silva has to be one of the worst scum I ever had the misfortune of reading about. Certainly, the Brazilian judiciary sees right through him. What on earth makes people like him tick. Sean will be in the hands of the rightful authority soon. BringSeanHome
What the public doesn't grasp, perhaps because media isn't reporting it, is the Business of government is: Business. How much in legal fees has this case generated? See FamilyLawCourts.com
Or, Google "Joyce Murphy, Kidnap" and consider this case: how much in legal and Therapy fees?
It's on you tube at watch?v=eYEizzLsdXg
If you read the transcript of the psychologist's interview, it is a joke. Sean repeatedly expressed concern about the fact that his stepfamily was listening in another room and the psychologist was asking the questions in a way that was very leading. In fact, when she asked Sean to draw a picture of his family, he said that he had run out of space and needed another sheet of paper. The psychologist told him it was ok, to add a couple of more of his Brazilian relatives and then he was done. She never gave him a chance to draw in David.
As for stepdad's assertion that he has done all the fatherly activities with Sean for the last five years, the only reason he's had that opportunity is because the child was KIDNAPPED. It's ironic that Lins e Silva is well known in the area of international parental abduction and makes his living trying to bring children home.
King Solomon granted custody to the unselfish party. In this case, the late mother, and her parents selfishly took the son from the father, and have repeated not allowed him to visit according to the Brazilians court records. David has been to Brazil 11 times, and only recently was allowed to see his son.
bringseanhome.org
I'm Brazilian and the stepfather family is famous in Brazil. Manipulators, liars, that's what they are. They are brainwashing the kid and if Justice in Brazil worked, he would be in jail and Sean back with his father.
The only child Brazil is going to send back to his father according to the Hague Convention is going on a coffin, killed by the mother's family. Is that what we are waiting to send Sean back home?
"Split Sean in half"... How about cut off Lins e Silva's penis - oh wait, he probably doesn't have one.
Mr. Lins e Silva thinks that he is above the law because he has money and knows a lot of corrupted members of the brasilian goverment!how dare him try to keep a child from his real father? how would he like if someone took little Chiara away from him? give Sean back to his REAL FATHER DAVID!
All Brazilians are outraged with what this powerful family has been doing to this father and child. They should be put away! They are kidnappers and have still been getting away with it. Please read Ricardo Zamariola's letter (David's lawyer) bring sean home dot org.and you will know what they are capable of!
IT WOULD NOT BE NECESSARY TO SPLIT SEAN IN HALF BECAUSE HE HAS ONLY ONE REAL FATHER; DAVID GOLDMAN; THE ONE THAT SHOULD HAVE HIS CUSTODY!
"Silva goes on to state that Sean speaks very little English"
The irony is that Lies & Snakes just put out a video of the child Sean, against a court order where he is partially interviewed in English.
I'm Brazilian and I wonder why this guy is given such a interview? A criminal free speech??
what he deserves is jail time and not get space in the American media.
This family lies! The stepfather must be put in jail!!!!! Now the world knows how the Brazilian people is treated under their own judicial system - so unfair. It is ashamed!
Mr. Lins e Silva WAS a respected attorney that specialize in child abduction, hague conventions cases and worked for the left behind parent! today he is a disgraced child abductor and an arrogant loser and an exemple od "DO AS I SAY BUT DON'T DO AS I DO" he is PATHETIC!
The right question is, "Would the father who kidnapped sean be willing to step aside to keep sean whole?" David Goldman is the father, my goodness!
The right question is, "Would the man who kidnapped sean be willing to step aside to keep sean whole?" David Goldman is the father, my goodness!
Mr. Lins e Silva who you think you are?If you think that you can manipulate American you're wrong.
Mr Lins e Silva and Bianchi are kidnappers,
crazy,SEAN must be returned to his FATHER.
Sean is NOT BRAZILIAN,he is AMERICAN, he has a FATHER, Mr DAVID GOLDMAN is his FATHER.
SEAN is not your son.
I am shamed being BRAZILIAN.
How dare this piece of scumbag write this sh**** letter trying to gain sympathy from Americans! This man and his entire family is the perfect example of how dirty and corrupt Brazil is.He comes from a traditional family of lawyers that curiously defends Parents Left Behind and the Hague Convention.
They have been brainwashing Sean since day one David applied to have his son back.David has documents to prove that he has been fighting against this family of crooks and the broken Brazilian judicial system for 4.5 years,still, this douche has the guts to come to American Newspapers and try to get some sympathy from us?
Come on, people,I'm Brazilian too and I am so ashamed and embarrassed for what this people and the country is doing to David and Sean! Can somebody please ask this low life where he stands when it comes to Parental Alienation in his private life?Sean belongs to his real dad.
Bring Sean HOME NOW!
Even brazilian law states that Sean should be in the custody of his only remaining parent, David Goldman. Do we give kidnappers custody of thier victims because they kept them so long they are now affected by stockholm syndrome? I dont think so. Lins E Silva is a kidnapper. Even the BRAZILIAN JUDGE Raphael Pinto said so in his June 1st ruling. ITs time to stop this travesty of justice and BRING SEAN HOME! www.bringseanhome.org
These kidnapping cases go both ways. When will the State Dept do right by Emily Hindle? tinyurl.com/ndsenf
While the Brazilian relatives trash David, David has chosen NOT to behave in kind...To keep Sean WHOLE.
Does the writer of this article believe that keeping one's son whole requires amputation of his real father from his life?
David was always sensitive to the fact that Sean would continue to have contact with the "other" side. However, the Brazilian relatives prefer to crucify David with every breath they take and to obliterate every facet of his existence.
BAD analogy.
Why isn't that guy (Lins & Silva) and the Bianchi family in jail yet?
this is how a lawless country works. If you have money and power, you can buy everyone. If Brazil wants to be taken seriously, it must start to clean up its act... I love it when you get stopped by one of the corrupt police in Brasil and they openly ask you for money. Not even Mexico... Brasil you have taken the first place in the most corrupt country on the planet...
Sean is being held hostage by a corrupt court system. If I was David I would just have kidnapped my son back.
However, David is a man that has played by all the rules.
His only interest is his son.
Over 4.5 years of heartbreak.
Sean needs to come home.
I am boycotting Brazil and all products from there!
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