When a child becomes an international incident (1)

The chief justice of Brazil’s Supreme Court is expected to rule Monday in the international custody battle involving a 9-year-old boy whose American father is fighting to bring him back to the U.S.

David Goldman, the boy’s father, and Brazil’s attorney general are trying to enforce a lower court order that said the boy should be handed over to his father — despite attempts by a Brazilian stepfather to retain custody.

In 2004, Goldman’s wife, Bruna Bianchi, took his son Sean to her native Brazil.

Goldman says it was to be a two-week vacation, but she stayed and so did the boy. She eventually obtained a Brazilian divorce from Goldman and remarried.

Goldman was already seeking his son’s return under an international treaty that covers cross-border child abductions when his former wife died last year giving birth to a daughter.

President Obama, the U.S. Congress and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have all urged the child’s return, and a U.S. congressman traveled to Rio on Thursday to continue lobbying for Sean’s return.

On Thursday, another Supreme Court judge blocked a decision by a federal court earlier in the week ordering the boy be returned to U.S. authorities within 48 hours.

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Notes:

I’ve been following this story.  It’s interesting.