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Brazil’s highest court said Wednesday it does not have jurisdiction over who should have custody of a U.S.-born 9-year-old boy — his Brazilian stepfather or his father in the United States. The high court’s ruling sends the ongoing case back to an appeals court in Rio de Janeiro. In the unanimous vote, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court said it could not rule over The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, of which Brazil is a signatory.
A Brazilian supreme court judge on Tuesday suspended a lower court’s order that would have given custody of a 9-year-old boy to the U.S. consulate in Rio de Janeiro, where he was to be reunited with his American father. Judge Marco Aurelio argued against taking Sean Richard Goldman from what has been his home for almost five years to the United States “in an abrupt manner.” Doing so, he wrote in his order published on the supreme court’s Web site, could subject the boy to psychological harm.
The New Jersey man whose efforts to gain custody of his son in Brazil attracted international attention may have finally gotten his wish. David Goldman’s lawyer, Patricia Apy, said Monday night that a Brazilian federal court has ruled that Goldman’s son should be returned to the United States
An 8-year-old American boy is caught in the middle of an ugly custody battle so high profile that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is using her clout to try to bring the boy home.