David Goldman knows the heartbreak of having his child abducted. Sean was 4-years-old when he was taken from New Jersey to Brazil by his mother five years ago. See David Goldman hours away from reunion with son.
Goldman and son were reunited on Christmas Eve in what he calls a miracle. See Sean Goldman reunited with father. They’ve spent time with extended family in Florida and began getting reacquainted. This weekend they returned to the house in New Jersey where Sean lived before his abduction.
Goldman says Sean hasn’t yet called him “Dad,” but hasn’t cried for his Brazilian relatives either. He’s a playful boy, claims Goldman, who says Sean has spoken with his maternal grandmother three times by phone since leaving Brazil. The transition is going incredibly well so far.
Children are abducted by one of their parents from the states to other countries, like in the Goldman case. They’re abducted by a parent from other countries into the states. See Hillary Clinton ignores parents of children abducted to the US. They’re also abducted within the United States, often facilitated by bad domestic violence laws and gender bias. See VAWA facilitates and funds illegal parental child abduction.
General Parker of Peoria, IL had his son taken to St. Louis, MO by the boy’s mother who then filed false allegations against him. The charges have been dropped, he says, but nothing has been done to aid him in reuniting with his son. He shares the feelings of many left behind parents.
I am overwhelmed that David Goldman has finally received custody of his little boy. I am also at the same time, very disappointed that our country would expend hundreds of thousands of dollars to retrieve a boy taken illegally and kept from his dad out of this country, while not spending one red cent to keep fathers with their children here in America.
If they have the money, power and leverage to reunite a father and child from another country, then they also have the wherewithal to accomplish that goal right here. if America and Congressman Smith are serious about their stance and this issue, then continue to make it happen here at home. My son is nine also and I haven’t seen him in four years and eleven months.
Parental alienation is a term once thought to be used only by abusive fathers to win child custody from protective mothers, as told in the debunked and now-shelved PBS special “Breaking the Silence, the Children’s Stories.” “Far from it,” say mothers and fathers who’ve had their children turned against them by the other parent after separation or divorce.
Carrie Adams, 49, of Palos Heights, IL hasn’t seen her children for five years. Her husband has been able to alienate her children from her, she says, and they live just three blocks away. “My life has been ruined,” says Adams whose health is failing, making reuniting with her children even more pressing. “This has been an awful experience,” says Adams, “I wouldn’t wish this on an enemy.”
Kelly Barr, 34, of Westmont, IL says it costs $8-25k to defend against a false allegation. “People who have never been in trouble with the law find themselves living on friends’ couches,” she says. “If they’re lucky,” say some.
Family child abduction accounts for the majority of all child kidnappings and is an increasing problem. “Three times as many respondents reported being victims of a kidnapping over their lifetimes as did in the past year,” according to the Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, in their Oct. 2009 survey of children 17 and under, the National Survey on Children’s Exposure to Violence.
- MORE: Click here to see MSNBC video of the Goldmans at home in NJ and photos of the Fathers 4 Justice rally in Chicago
- Fathers & Families: Ask DSM to Include Parental Alienation in Upcoming Edition
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