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Brazilian Supreme Court to Rule on US Custody Case

   The  Brazilian Supreme Court's top judge is expected to issue a ruling
   Monday  on  whether  a  boy  at the center of an international custody
   dispute will be reunited with his American father.

   VOA News 21 December 2009
   David  Goldman,  of  New  Jersey,  shows the press a letter he says he
   wrote  to his son and was returned to sender in Rio de Janeiro, 18 Dec
   2009

Photo: AP

   David  Goldman,  of  New  Jersey,  shows the press a letter he says he
   wrote  to his son and was returned to sender in Rio de Janeiro, 18 Dec
   2009

   Chief  Justice  Gilmar Mendes will rule Monday on the appeals of David
   Goldman,  who  has  been trying to regain custody of his nine-year-old
   son for five years.
   Goldman  pleaded  Friday for Brazilian authorities to let him take his
   son, Sean, back to the United States.
   The case began in 2004, when David Goldman's then-wife, Bruna Bianchi,
   took  the child to her native Brazil for what she said was a vacation.
   Bianchi,  however,  divorced Goldman in Brazil and married a prominent
   lawyer.   She  died  in  childbirth  last  year, and Sean's stepfather
   refuses to hand him over to his biological father.
   Goldman,  who  is  from  the  state of New Jersey, flew to Brazil last
   week,  but the Brazilian Supreme Court blocked the boy's return to his
   father.   Both  Goldman  and  Brazil's  attorney-general  appealed the
   ruling.
   That  high court ruling came after a federal appeals court in Rio said
   Sean should be handed over to his father.
   The  case  reached  the highest levels of the U.S. government during a
   private  meeting  at the White House in March between President Barack
   Obama and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
   Secretary  of  State  Hillary  Clinton  has also lobbied for the boy's
   return to the United States.
   A  congressman from New Jersey, Republican Chris Smith, called for the
   suspension  of  Brazil's  trade  preferences  until  the international
   custody battle is resolved.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

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