H. Res. 125 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

March 11, 2009. 

Whereas David Goldman has been trying unsuccessfully since 

June 17, 2004, to secure the return of his son Sean to 

the United States where Sean maintained his habitual 

residence until his mother, Bruna Bianchi Ribeiro Goldman, removed Sean to Brazil; 

Whereas on August 26, 2004, the Superior Court of New 

Jersey awarded custody to Mr. Goldman, ordered Mrs. 

Goldman and her parents to immediately return Sean to 

the United States, and indicated to Mrs. Goldman and 

her parents that their continued behavior constituted parental kidnaping under United States law; 

Whereas on September 3, 2004, Mr. Goldman filed an application for the immediate return of Sean to the United 

States under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil 

Aspects of International Child Abduction (the ‘‘Hague 

Convention’’) to which both the United States and Brazil 

are party and which entered into force between Brazil 

and the United States on December 1, 2003; 

Whereas on August 22, 2008, Mrs. Goldman passed away in 

Brazil leaving Sean without a mother and separated from 

his biological father in the United States; 
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Whereas Mr. Joa ̃o Paulo Lins e Silva, whom Mrs. Goldman 

married in Brazil, has petitioned the Brazilian courts for 

custody rights over Sean Goldman and to replace Mr. 

Goldman’s name with his own name on a new birth certificate to be issued to Sean, despite the fact that Mr. 

Goldman, not Mr. Lins e Silva, is Sean’s biological father; 

Whereas furthermore, the United States and Brazil have expressed their desire, through the Hague Convention, ‘‘to 

protect children internationally from the harmful effects 

of their wrongful removal or retention and to establish 

procedures to ensure their prompt return to the State of 

their habitual residence’’; 

Whereas according to the Department of State, there are 51 

cases involving 65 children who were habitual residents 

of the United States and who were removed to Brazil by 

a parent and have not been returned to the United States 

as required under the Hague Convention; 

Whereas according to the Department of State’s April 2008 

Report on Compliance with the Hague Convention on the 

Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, ‘‘parental 

child abduction jeopardizes the child and has substantial 

long-term consequences for both the child and the left-behind parent’’; 

Whereas the Department of State’s Office of Children’s 

Issues, while not always notified of international child abductions, is currently handling approximately 1,900 open 

cases of parental abduction to other countries involving 

more than 2,800 children abducted from the United 

States; 
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Whereas in fiscal year 2007, the United States Central Authority responded to cases involving 821 children abducted from the United States to countries with which 

the United States partners under the Hague Convention, 

but during that same time period only 217 children were 

returned from Hague Convention partner countries to the 

United States; 

Whereas according to the Department of State, Honduras 

has not acted in compliance with the terms it agreed to 

as a party to the Hague Convention, and Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Poland, 

and Venezuela have demonstrated patterns of noncompliance based on their Central Authority performance, judicial performance, or law enforcement performance of the 

obligations of the Hague Convention; 

Whereas according to the Department of State, in fiscal year 

2008, the United States Central Authority counted 306 

cases of parental abductions involving 455 children taken 

from the United States to other countries that are not 

partners with the United States under the Hague Convention, currently including 101 children in Japan, 67 

children in India, and 37 children in Russia; 

Whereas three-year-old Melissa Braden is among the children 

who have been wrongfully abducted to Japan, a United 

States ally which does not recognize intra-familial child 

abduction as a crime, and though its family laws do not 

discriminate by nationality, Japanese courts give no recognition to the parental rights of the non-Japanese parent, fail to enforce United States court orders relating to 

child custody or visitation, and place no effective obligation on the Japanese parent to allow parental visits for 

their child; 
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Whereas Melissa was taken from Los Angeles, California to 

Japan on March 16, 2006, when she was 11-months-old, 

despite a California court’s prior order forbidding 

Melissa’s removal to Japan and granting joint custody to 

her father Patrick Braden; 

Whereas despite his extensive efforts, Mr. Braden and his 

daughter have not seen each other since her abduction; 

Whereas according to the Department of State, abducted 

children are at risk of serious emotional and psychological problems and have been found to experience anxiety, eating problems, nightmares, mood swings, sleep 

disturbances, aggressive behavior, resentment, guilt and 

fearfulness, and as adults may struggle with identity 

issues, their own personal relationships and parenting; 

and 

Whereas left-behind parents may encounter substantial psychological, emotional, and financial problems and many 

may not have the financial resources to pursue civil or 

criminal remedies for the return of their children in foreign courts or political systems: Now, therefore, be it: 

Resolved, That— 

(1) the House of Representatives— 

(A) calls on Brazil to, in accordance with its 

obligations under the Hague Convention and with 

extreme urgency, bring about the return of Sean 

Goldman to his father, David Goldman, in the 

United States; 

(B) urges all countries determined by the Department of State to have issues of non-compliance 
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with the Hague Convention to fulfill their obligation 

under international law to take all appropriate 

measures to secure within their respective territories the implementation of the Hague Convention 

and to use the most expeditious procedures available; and 

(C) calls on all other nations to join the Hague 

Convention and to establish procedures to promptly 

and equitably address the tragedy of child abductions, given the increase of transnational marriages 

and births, the number of international child abduction cases and the serious consequences to children 

of not expeditiously resolving these cases; and 

(2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives 

that the United States should— 

(A) review its diplomatic procedures and the 

operations available to United States citizens 

through its central authority under the Hague Convention to ensure that effective assistance is provided to Mr. Goldman and other United States citizens in obtaining the expeditious return of their 

children from Brazil and other countries that have 

entered into the reciprocal obligations with the 

United States under the Hague Convention; 
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(B) take other appropriate measures to ensure 

that Hague Convention partners return abducted 

children to the United States in compliance with the 

Hague Convention’s provisions; 

(C) diplomatically urge other nations to become parties to the Hague Convention and establish 

systems to effectively discharge their reciprocal responsibilities under the Convention; and 

(D) continue to work aggressively for the return of children abducted from the United States to 

other nations and for visitation rights for their leftbehind parents when return is not yet achieved. 

Attest: 

Clerk.