•HRES 125 EH 
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 cer-
tificate to be issued to Sean, despite the fact that Mr. 
Goldman, not Mr. Lins e Silva, is Sean’s biological fa-
ther; 
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’’; 
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-be-
hind parent’’; 
Whereas the Department of State’s Office of Children’s 
Issues, while not always notified of international child ab-
ductions, 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;
•HRES 125 EH 
Whereas in fiscal year 2007, the United States Central Au-
thority responded to cases involving 821 children ab-
ducted 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, Bul-
garia, Chile, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Poland, 
and Venezuela have demonstrated patterns of noncompli-
ance based on their Central Authority performance, judi-
cial 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 Con-
vention, 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 rec-
ognition to the parental rights of the non-Japanese par-
ent, fail to enforce United States court orders relating to 
child custody or visitation, and place no effective obliga-
tion on the Japanese parent to allow parental visits for 
their child;
•HRES 125 EH 
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 psycho-
logical problems and have been found to experience anx-
iety, 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 psy-
chological, 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 for-
eign 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 De-
partment of State to have issues of non-compliance
•HRES 125 EH 
with the Hague Convention to fulfill their obligation 
under international law to take all appropriate 
measures to secure within their respective terri-
tories the implementation of the Hague Convention 
and to use the most expeditious procedures avail-
able; 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 abduc-
tions, given the increase of transnational marriages 
and births, the number of international child abduc-
tion 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 Con-
vention to ensure that effective assistance is pro-
vided to Mr. Goldman and other United States citi-
zens 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;
•HRES 125 EH 
(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 be-
come parties to the Hague Convention and establish 
systems to effectively discharge their reciprocal re-
sponsibilities under the Convention; and 
(D) continue to work aggressively for the re-
turn of children abducted from the United States to 
other nations and for visitation rights for their left- 
behind parents when return is not yet achieved. 
Attest: 
Clerk.