David Goldman, the New Jersey father who spent five-and-a-half years fighting to reunite with his son Sean, spoke to nearly 200 mental health professionals at the Port Washington Yacht Club on Friday, Nov. 4, and Saturday, Nov. 5.
At age four, young Sean was taken to Brazil by his mother Bruna, who later informed David Goldman that both she and the boy were staying in Brazil, her country of origin.
David Goldman had the support of the Hague Convention, whose multilateral treaty strives to “protect children from abduction and retention across international boundaries by providing a procedure to bring about their prompt return.” Still in his struggle, he fought the Brazilian courts, even after Burna died tragically in childbirth, as Sean’s stepfather and grandparents aimed to keep the boy there.
Ultimately, with the backing of high-level government officials from Rep. Christopher Smith to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama, in 2009, David Goldman brought his son back to New Jersey, where they have lived together ever since.
Other parents, he told the audience, are not so fortunate.
“The complications – mentally, emotionally, physically and financially are very, very taxing,” David Goldman said. “Many just have to give up. They finish their days with a big piece of their soul missing, not knowing if they will ever see their child.”
Goldman is working to help return internationally abducted children though the Bring Sean Home Foundation.
Goldman, the author of “A Father’s Love, One Man’s Unrelenting Battle to Bring His Abducted Son Home” (Viking, 2011), was in Port Washington as the guest of the Great Neck law firm, Wisselman, Harounian & Associates. The firm has put together legal workshops for mental health professionals since 2003.
David Goldman
Mark DeAngelis – Bring Sean Home Foundation