Goldberg

On June 16, 2004 Bruna Ribeiro flew from The United States to Brazil with her son for a two-week visit with family there. Riberiro’s husband David Goldberg had no reason to expect any problems with this routine visit. However, shortly after Rebeiro’s arrival in Brazil, she informed a bewildered Goldberg that she had no intention of ever returning to the United States.

Ribeiro’s actions were clearly in violation of both Brazilian and American law. Brazil is signatory to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The intent of this convention is to ensure an abducted child’s prompt return to his home, yet Goldberg was continually frustrated in his attempts to have his son returned.

After Ribeiro’s tragic death in 2008 Goldberg found himself embroiled in a new legal battle with his son’s Brazilian stepfather. After myriad appeals by the child’s stepfather, the case went to the Brazilian Supreme Court. It was not resolved until December 24, 2009 when, after diplomatic intervention at the highest levels of government, the Brazilian courts finally ordered that father and son be reunited and return to the United States.

Mr. Goldberg has established a foundation with goals similar to those of IROCS. For more information about his case, or details of some of the hundreds of other active American cases of international parental abduction, visit the Bring Sean Home Foundation at http://bringseanhome.org/wordpress/