Silvana
Bianchi, maternal grandmother of Sean Goldman, the nine-year-
old
boy at the center of an international custody battle, cries after Sean
was
handed over to his American father, David Goldman, Dec. 25.
Folha, Brazil
Sean Goldman's Brazilian
Family Hopes to Regain Custody
"I'm
very upset, very sad and concerned about Sean's little head. He left a small
sister here. Every time she passes his bedroom door, she asks: 'Where's
brother, where's brother?' I always respond by saying that he's traveling. They
separated two siblings. That's cruel."
David Goldman with
his son Sean and his late wife, Bruna. In 2004, Bruna took their son to
Brazil and never returned. After marrying another man in Brazil, she
died, resulting in the present custody battle.
Rio de Janeiro:
Silvana Bianchi, grandmother of nine-year-old Sean Goldman, said on Dec. 30
that she would not make any quick judgments about the request for compensation
by American David Goldman, the child's father, for $500,000 (about 870,000 reals).
The foreigner's lawyer said yesterday that the costs being sought from the
boy's Brazilian family would cover David's expenses since the beginning of the
legal battle for custody of his son.
"It would be nice if
everyone had knowledge of this. I'd rather not to give my opinion about this
for now. There must be some reason for him to be talking about this. I don't
want to make any preliminary judgments. He has a right to ask for whatever he
wants, but I don't know if it's legal. I'm very worried about Sean and not what
David says," the boy's grandmother told Folha.
Sean, who was born in the
United States, came to Brazil in 2004 with his mother, who passed away last
year. Based on a decision of the Supreme Court, he was handed over to his
father on December 24.
Bianchi also said she
received a phone call from her grandson on the afternoon of the 29th, the first
day in his new home in a small town in the U.S. state of New Jersey. For the
grandmother, even though the boy complained about the cold, he's OK with his
father.
"He talked to me over
the phone for around 15 minutes. He's dying of loneliness and said it was very
cold, but that he's OK. He's very mature for his age. He is a child who is
staying focused within the storm," said the grandmother.
She also said that she
explained to her grandson that she would visit him soon, after "everything
is formalized. … At the end of the year everything stops. As soon as we have
the legal issues taken care of, we'll go visit him," she said.
Emotional, Silvana again criticized
the decision of the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Gilmar Mendes, who
annulled the verdict that terminated the boy's stay in Brazil and which took
him from his sister on Christmas Eve.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
"I only regret the response
of the Brazilian courts. I'm very upset, very sad and concerned about Sean's
little head. He left a small sister here. Every time she passes his bedroom
door, she asks: "Where's brother, where's brother?" I always respond by
saying that he's traveling. They separated two siblings. That's cruel,"
said Bianchi.
According to news agencies,
Sean and his father stayed within David Goldman's New Jersey home all day on
Tuesday. The two arrived Monday night (Dec. 28) after spending four days in
Florida.
Images from the American TV
network NBC [see video below] showed Sean playing with a cat, which was in the house when
the boy was taken to Brazil by his mother five years ago. David also
reintroduced the boy to his room, which has been kept intact since he left.
On Monday, Sean's Brazilian
family said they would continue the court battle to regain custody of the boy.
The family says it's considering entering an appeal with the Superior Court
[the highest appeals court in Brazil] for the boy to be heard. His Brazilian
relatives hope that Sean will state that he would rather live in Brazil, and
based on this, they hope to regain custody.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Family members have already expressed
the intention to visit Sean in the United States. On Tuesday, David didn't
clearly respond to journalist's questions on this, and said that this is
something that would be discussed in the future. According to Jornal
Nacional, Goldman's lawyer informed that Sean's Brazilian family has yet to
make a formal request to visit.
His father said that Sean had
contacted Brazil two times since he traveled to the United States: once on
Christmas Eve and again this Tuesday, when he spoke to his grandmother.
