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Piauí Magazine
March 2009

Family Matters
Diplomacy arrives on the scene
by Dorrit Harazim
Translation and adaptation by Rachel Glickhouse

[ Page 3 of 4 ]

he conciliation hearing took place behind closed doors, with the attorneys dressed in robes, and lasted nearly six hours. Sitting at the back of the room, as observers, were the coordinator of the Federal Central Authority, Patricia Lamego, Congressman Chris Smith his aide Mark Milosch, Marie d’Amour from the American embassy, and Paulo Lins e Silva. Seated at the rectangular table reserved for those attending, in front of Judge Salomão, the four participants faced each other. Ricardo Zamariola, David Goldman, an interpreter and Sergio Brito, from the Advocacy Union, sat on the left side. João Paulo Lins e Silva and his team were on the opposite side of the table.

It was the first time that Sean’s father and stepfather saw each other, heard each other, and sized each other up directly. “I admit that for a while David seemed to be calmer than I,” admitted David’s lawyer, Zamariola, a few days later. “Basically, when the client has nothing to hide, he can say whatever he wants: there’s no risk of making a mistake.”

As expected, the conciliation about the main issue –repatriating or not repatriating Sean to the United States—quickly imploded. It wasn’t the translator’s fault, who was replaced by an interpreter from the embassy so that the process could proceed smoother. David Goldman, who walked into the hearing carrying notes he had written the night before, didn’t reveal the session’s content or developments. But according to one source, his arguments had a personal tone –“I don’t understand why I’m here begging to be with my son,” he said – while João Paulo Lins e Silva maintained a professional, lawyer-like tone.

Recognizing the unlikelihood of reaching an agreement, Minister Salomão reached a more punctual and immediate decision –a teratologic one, as attorneys like to say—of the judicial dispute: the father’s right to visit his son, which had been denied to Goldman in various ways since Sean left with his mother four and a half years ago. This way, it was decided that the American was authorized to see Sean every time he came to Brazil, beginning the following Monday from 9am to 8pm. All he had to do was announce his arrival ahead of time.

The high level of adrenaline behind all those comings and goings only erupted the next morning, when Congressman Smith, the only participant to give interviews after the conciliation hearing, visited a church in Brasilia with David Goldman. They stayed at the Dom Bosco Sanctuary for several hours. The church, built at the same time as Brasilia nearly 50 years ago, bore witness to the uncontrollable sobs of a 42 year-old father.

Monday, February 9th, day 1,698 since Bruna Bianchi left with her son from Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. By court orders, a psychologist had to be present during the first and subsequent encounter David Goldman had with Sean. The visit took place in the playground of the apartment complex where the boy’s maternal grandparents live, and included two other witnesses that kept their distance: Congressman Smith and Karen Gustafson de Andrade, an American consular official.

Last October, despite having a court order in his hands to visit his son at that same address, Goldman, his lawyer, three court marshals, and Karen waited to no avail for three hours. João Paulo Lins e Silva had decided to spend the weekend out of town with his stepson.

Karen’s presence at the encounter between father and son may be explained by an onging policy of the Office of Children’s Issues in Washington. “For fifteen years we’ve trained diplomatic officials to have a better idea and understanding of the emotions felt by a parent or child in such cases . Some lectures are given by adults who were kidnapped as children, or by the a parent who had a child abducted”, explained Bond. Most often the officials who receive such training are consular officials.

At 7:30pm, Ricardo Zamariola, who this time thought it unnecessary to stay in Rio, received the first phone call from his client. Goldman was ecstatic. He jumbled phrases and described sensations that written down would become a heap of clichés. “I knew it would be like this—after all, he’s my son,” he said. According to his account, the psychologist appointed by João Paulo Lins e Silva was understanding, competent, discreet and kind during the visit. When Sean at one point asked his father, in English, why he hadn’t come to visit him sooner, Goldman said he felt comfortable consulting with the psychologist if he should answer. She told him he was free to do so. The rest of the day was spent on the basketball court and in the swimming pool.

The inner turmoil experienced by Sean, the grandparents, the father, the stepfather , on that first night after the visit must have been huge. As expected, nothing was the same when Goldman arrived for the second and final visit to his son before returning to the United States at the end of the day. The mood was tense. According to the American, the psychologist from the day before had been replaced by a professional who preferred to intervene in a stricter way, inducing Sean to speak in Portuguese instead of English. Despite having permission from the court to take his son outside of the apartment building, Goldman ate a sandwich brought from the hotel, alone, while the boy was called inside to have lunch.

It was at the end of the day, sitting in the van that took him to Galeão Airport, that Goldman received the most promising news about untying the legal knot. By unanimous decision, the nine ministers in the 2nd Section of the STJ had decided that the court designed to judge the two lawsuits regarding Sean’s fate was to be a Federal Court, not a State court. More specifically, the 16th Civil Court. Until then, the lawsuit filed by João Paulo Lins e Silva citing “socio-affective paternity” of Sean, was in the hands of state Judge Gerardo Carnevale Ney da Silva, the head of the 2nd Family Court. And the lawsuit filed by the General Advocacy Union, along with Ricardo Zamariola, demanding Sean’s repatriation, was in the hands of federal Judge Rafael de Souza Pereira Pinto. The decision from their superiors in Brasilia consolidated the Federal Court’s ability to judge the two cases.

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