Can you imagine having one of your children taken away from you by your spouse, and have them take the child abroad to where you couldn't get to them? Well it actually happened to David Goldman. David's son Sean was taken by his mother. David's wife told David and his family that she wanted to take Sean to her home country of Brazil so that her family could see Sean. They agreed to the trip. After David's wife and son landed in Brazil, David's wife called him to tell him that their marriage was over and Sean would never return to the US. This website is David's website to try and bring back Sean. (Sean is now back in the US.)
http://bringseanhome.org/index.html
In this article, you will read about what happened and why this custody battle raged on for 6 years. On December 24, 2009, the father and son were finally reunited and told they could both go back to the US together.
This reminded me of another case where there was an internation fight over where he should go. Back to his father in cuba or stay in the states where his mother risked her life to get him here to her family. The little boy was Elian Gonzalez. I posted an entry on him. He ended up going back to Cuba to his father. It's an interesting case.
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/usa/US-Father-Custody-Son-Brazil-24DEC09--80064717.html - here is another news article that was written about the case.
Its amazing how many cases there are of custody battles between the U.S. and other countries because of parents who do such things as Sean's mother did. I think it shows a flaw in both legal systems. I dont believe that it should have taken 5 years to gain custody of his son back. If the mother would have came back to the states she would have been charged with kidnapping but yet in Brazil their was no legal action taken. It may have to do with who she married after divorcing Sean's father but it seems to be ridiculous that it took so long. I'm glad that after the mothers death the Supreme Court did make the Brazilian family give Sean to his father. I think if they hadn't ruled that way it would have put more of a strain on the U.S. and Brazil's involvement with one another.
Joint custody alone is a difficult and sometimes complicated situation. However, after I went to both the site about and learned more about other child kidnappings they are more common that one might think. Also-when the custody battles involve another country you run into issues regarding their rule and regulations. In the David case I often wonder if the mother had not died in child birth if David's son would have never been returned to him.