IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 125 
Calling on the central authority of Brazil to immediately discharge all its 
duties under the Hague Convention by facilitating and supporting Fed-
eral judicial proceedings as a matter of extreme urgency to obtain the 
return of Sean Goldman to his father, David Goldman, for immediate 
return to the United States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 4, 2009 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Calling on the central authority of Brazil to immediately 
discharge all its duties under the Hague Convention by 
facilitating and supporting Federal judicial proceedings 
as a matter of extreme urgency to obtain the return 
of Sean Goldman to his father, David Goldman, for 
immediate return to the United States. 
Whereas, on May 25, 2000, Sean Goldman was born in Red 
Bank, New Jersey, the son of David Goldman and Bruna 
Bianchi Ribeiro Goldman who were married in New Jer-
sey in 1999; 
Whereas Sean Goldman lived with his parents the first four 
years of his life in Tinton Falls, New Jersey; 
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•HRES 125 IH 
Whereas, on June 16, 2004, Sean and his mother Mrs. Gold-
man left together with Mrs. Goldman’s parents for a 
planned vacation to Mrs. Goldman’s parents’ home in 
Brazil; 
Whereas upon her arrival in Brazil, Mrs. Goldman called Mr. 
Goldman to advise him that their marriage was over and 
that she would not be returning Sean to his home in New 
Jersey; 
Whereas Mr. Goldman has been trying unsuccessfully since 
June 17, 2004, to secure the return of his son from 
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 under United 
States law constituted parental kidnapping; 
Whereas, on September 3, 2004, Mr. Goldman filed an appli-
cation 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’’); 
Whereas the Federal Republic of Brazil acceded to the Hague 
Convention on October 19, 1999, and the Hague Conven-
tion entered into force between Brazil and the United 
States on December 1, 2003; 
Whereas, pursuant to article 12 of the Hague Convention, 
the judicial authority of Brazil was required to order 
Sean’s return to the United States ‘‘forthwith,’’ custom-
arily defined under international law as within six weeks 
after an application for return has been filed; 
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•HRES 125 IH 
Whereas, on October 13, 2005, the Brazilian court refused to 
return Sean in contravention of Brazil’s obligations under 
the Hague Convention even though it found that Sean 
was a habitual resident of the United States and, pursu-
ant to international law, had been wrongfully removed 
and retained in Brazil; 
Whereas, on August 19, 2005, the Superior Court of New 
Jersey found both Mrs. Goldman and her parents to be 
in willful contempt of the court’s orders and further 
found Mrs. Goldman’s continued retention of Sean ac-
tionable under the International Parental Kidnapping 
and Crime Act of 1993 as well as New Jersey’s criminal 
statutes; 
Whereas the contempt of Ms. Goldman and her family contin-
ued after the court’s August 19, 2005, order and Mr. 
Goldman was afforded no contact with his son; 
Whereas Mrs. Goldman obtained a divorce from Mr. Goldman 
without notice through the Brazilian courts and soon 
thereafter married Joa˜o Paulo Lins e Silva; 
Whereas, on August 22, 2008, Mrs. Goldman tragically 
passed away during childbirth leaving Sean without a 
mother and separated from his biological father in the 
United States; 
Whereas in September 2008, Mr. Goldman traveled to Brazil 
to visit and rightfully reclaim full custody of his son, 
Sean; 
Whereas, upon his arrival, Mr. Goldman learned that Mr. 
Lins e Silva had petitioned the Brazilian courts for cus-
tody rights over Sean and also had secretly petitioned the 
Brazilian courts to replace Mr. Goldman’s name with his 
own name on a new birth certificate to be issued to Sean 
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•HRES 125 IH 
Goldman, despite the fact that Mr. Goldman, not Mr. 
Lins e Silva, is Sean’s biological father; 
Whereas in October 2008, Mr. Lins e Silva failed to make 
Sean available for a visitation ordered by the Brazilian 
Federal Court with his father, and absconded with Sean 
for the duration of the scheduled visitation; 
Whereas Brazilian law enforcement did not provide Mr. Gold-
man with Sean’s location during the visitation ordered by 
the Brazilian court and did not enforce the visitation 
order, even though they were informed about Mr. Lins e 
Silva’s failure to make Sean available for the visitation; 
Whereas, the Government of Brazil, through the Hague Con-
vention, is obligated to ‘‘take all appropriate measures to 
secure within [its territory] the implementation of the ob-
jects of the Convention,’’ and ‘‘to use the most expedi-
tious procedures available’’; 
Whereas the judicial authority of Brazil has failed to comply 
with its obligations under article 11 of the Hague Con-
vention to expeditiously order the return of Sean to the 
United States; 
Whereas, the United States and Brazil, through the Hague 
Convention, have expressed the firm conviction that ‘‘the 
interests of children are of paramount importance in 
matters relating to their custody’’; 
Whereas, furthermore, the United States and Brazil have ex-
pressed 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’’; 
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•HRES 125 IH 
Whereas the U.S. State Department determined in its 2008 
Compliance Report to Congress for the 1980 Hague Con-
vention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Ab-
duction, as required under Public Law 105–277, section 
2803 (the ‘‘Hague Convention Compliance Report’’), that 
Brazil ‘‘continued to demonstrate patterns of noncompli-
ance with the Convention in its judicial performance’’; 
Whereas it is reported that there are nearly 50 cases in which 
children who were habitual residents of the United States 
have been wrongfully abducted to Brazil and have not 
been returned to the United States as required under the 
Hague Convention; and 
Whereas Sean is being deprived of his rightful opportunity to 
live and be raised by his biological father, Sean could suf-
fer developmental and psychological consequences because 
of this unjust separation, and it is consistent with inter-
national law to be reunited with his father in New Jersey 
following the death of his mother: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That— 
(1) the House of Representatives— 
(A) calls on the central authority of Brazil 
to immediately discharge all its duties under 
the Hague Convention by facilitating and sup-
porting Federal judicial proceedings as a matter 
of extreme urgency to obtain the return of Sean 
Goldman to his father, David Goldman, for im-
mediate return to the United States; and 
(B) calls upon the Brazilian government to 
fulfill its obligation under international law to 
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•HRES 125 IH 
take all other appropriate measures to secure 
within its territory the implementation of the 
objects of the Hague Convention, and to use 
the most expeditious procedures available, pur-
suant to article 2 of the Convention, in the case 
of Sean Goldman as well as all other children 
from the United States whose rights are not 
being respected under the Convention; and 
(2) it is the sense of the House of Representa-
tives that the United States should— 
(A) make the determination, through the 
United States Department of State in its 2009 
Hague Convention Compliance Report, that 
Brazil is a ‘‘Country Not Compliant with the 
Convention’’, given that Brazil failed in all 
three performance areas of central authority 
performance, judicial performance, and law en-
forcement performance for fiscal year 2008; 
(B) review its diplomatic procedures and 
the operations available to United States citi-
zens through its central authority under the 
Hague Convention to ensure that effective as-
sistance is provided to Mr. Goldman and other 
United States citizens in obtaining the expedi-
tious return of their children from Brazil and 
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•HRES 125 IH 
other countries that have entered into the recip-
rocal obligations with the United States under 
the Hague Convention; and 
(C) take any and all other appropriate 
measures to ensure that Hague Convention 
partners return abducted children to the United 
States in compliance with the Hague Conven-
tion’s provisions. 
Æ 
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