NEW JERSEY SENATORS HAIL BRAZILIAN COURT RULING AS JUSTICE FOR GOLDMAN FAMILYCOURT ORDERS SEAN GOLDMAN RETURNED TO HIS FATHERWASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today hailed the decision by a Brazilian federal court to return Sean Goldman to his father, David Goldman of Tinton Falls, New Jersey.  Sean and his father are scheduled to be reunited tomorrow.     “After several agonizing years, justice may finally be done for the Goldman family,” Sen. Lautenberg said. “We successfully pushed the U.S. and Brazilian governments to reunite the Goldman family, and it looks like our efforts have paid off.  Nothing can make up for the years lost between David and Sean, but reunification will allow the Goldman family to rebuild and put this difficult episode behind them.”Senator Menendez said: “This terrific news means that the heartbreaking story of a New Jersey family torn apart will finally have a happy ending when father and son are together again. The one truth at the heart of this case that made this the only moral and just verdict was that family comes first. A young boy and his father had been kept apart for years and prevented from reuniting. My well wishes go to David Goldman, who in talking with my office and throughout this ordeal has shown his determination and steadfastness out of pure love for Sean.” Lautenberg, Menendez and Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) were the prime authors of a Senate Resolution that passed in March calling for Sean Goldman’s return to the U.S.  In January, Sen. Lautenberg met with David Goldman and U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, Clifford Sobel, in separate meetings about the abduction case.  Lautenberg also personally urged Brazilian Ambassador to the U.S., Antonio Patriota, to press his government to follow international law and return the boy.  In February, Sens. Lautenberg and Menendez sent a letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva calling on him to follow international law and assist in the return of Sean Goldman to his father.Sean Goldman, who is nine years old, was taken to Brazil by his mother, Bruna Goldman, in 2004 and kept in Brazil without the consent of his father, David Goldman.  David Goldman has since waged a legal battle to get his son back.  Bruna Goldman passed away in 2008.  Sean Goldman is currently in Brazil with his stepfather.  Only recently was David Goldman allowed by Brazilian authorities to visit with Sean for the first time since he was taken to Brazil.  Under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction to which both the U.S. and Brazil are signatories, a child who is a habitual resident in one party country, and who has been removed to another party country in violation of a parent’s custodial rights, is to be returned to the country of habitual residence.  However, Sean Goldman was not returned to the U.S. and instead has been in Brazil for more than four years.  The Senators’ resolution urged Brazilian authorities to comply with international law.                                                                          # # #