Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Washington Post reporter Joshua Partlow about a custody battle that's risen to the highest levels in relations between Brazil and the United States. The legal dispute centers on an 8-year-old American boy living in Brazil whose father is trying to return to the US.
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MARCO WERMAN: I'm Marco Werman. This is The World. Tomorrow, President Obama is scheduled to meet with Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. The two leaders have a lot to talk about. The economy, the environment, energy, and hemispheric security are all on the agenda. And so is the custody battle over an 8-year-old American boy. Washington Post reporter Joshua Partlow is in Rio de Janeiro, and he's been following the boy's story. Joshua Partlow, who is this kid?
JOSHUA PARTLOW: Well, his name is Shawn Goldman. He's the son of David Goldman, who is from New Jersey. David had married a woman named Bruna Bianci. They lived in New Jersey. The son was born in New Jersey, and then she decided to move to Brazil, where she was from, and take the boy with her in 2004. And for the last four and a half years, that's where the boy has been. The mother passed away, and so throughout this whole time, the American father, David Goldman, has been trying to get his son back.
WERMAN: So if the mother passed away a year ago, why has young Shawn Goldman not been returned to his father in New Jersey?
PARTLOW: Bruna had remarried down here to a lawyer, and that father was granted by the court system here, temporary custody of the boy.
WERMAN: On what grounds can they keep Shawn Goldman in Brazil?
PARTLOW: Well, the case revolves around this international treaty called The Hague Convention, which both the United States and Brazil are a party to. And basically it tries to determine if there's been a wrongful removal of a child from one country to another. A judge here in Brazil had ruled that although there was a wrongful removal under this treaty, that because the boy had been here for I guess over a year at this point, had become settled with his new family, that it would cause emotional and psychological damage for him to be returned and therefore basically ruled against David Goldman.
WERMAN: I got to say that it's pretty extraordinary that this case has reached the point where it will be discussed by the Presidents of the United States and Brazil tomorrow. I mean, it was the first thing that Hillary Clinton talked about with her Brazilian counterpart last week, apparently.
PARTLOW: The State Department, you know, feels that it's a clear violation of the treaty even before the wife had passed away, so it was, as the State Department said, the first topic of discussion between Secretary Clinton and the Foreign Minister of Brazil. It's definitely become a priority for the US government.
WERMAN: I know the father has been down to Brazil several times over the past few years. Has he actually gotten a chance to see his son?
PARTLOW: Yes. He's gotten a chance to seen his son once so far earlier this year. He got a court order to approve the visit. He met at the family's housing complex/building in Rio for a few hours, I believe. You know, they played basketball together, they went swimming. David said that his son, you know, still spoke English, still remembered a lot about his life in New Jersey. He did ask David, you know, “Where have you been? Why haven't you seen me more often?†And David said he didn't want to upset the boy or explain, you know, to an 8-year-old exactly everything that was going on. So he said he really wants to, he loves him, but that there's been some problems in the courts.
WERMAN: Well, regardless of what happens, this has got to be a tough chapter in Shawn Goldman's life. Joshua Partlow, Washington Post reporter in Rio de Janeiro, thanks for speaking with us.
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