International Law

In 2004, Goldman filed a petition under the Hague convention to have his son returned. Hague convention cases are supposed to be a "very expeditious process" and not last longer than six weeks, said James D. Garbolino, an assigned Superior Court judge in California who has written a book on such cases. 

Among the common defenses for not returning a child, Garbolino said, are that a child would suffer grave psychological harm by going back to his or her home country, or if the parent waits more than a year after the child's departure to file a petition. Goldman filed within 50 business days of his son's departure, according to his attorneys, but Bianchi's side argued that Sean would be emotionally damaged if he returned to the United States.

A federal judge in Rio in 2005 agreed that Sean had been moved to Brazil wrongfully but ruled that he should stay in Brazil because he had become "settled" in his new home, which is an exception described in the treaty.

"Sean is a naturalized Brazilian citizen. He has lived here for almost five years and has been raised with much love, affection and care by a serious family, receiving the best education possible," he wrote, adding, "It's not fair, nor humane, this slaughter that we are suffering involving the calculated capriciousness of an absent father."

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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