US applauds Brazil court decision on child's release

Washington - The United States Wednesday welcomed the decision by a Brazilian appeals court to return a young American boy to his father in the United States, a years-old case that has garnered frequent headlines. The child in question is Sean Goldman, 8, who was taken by his Brazilian mother to Brazil about five years ago. She divorced her American husband, David Goldman, while in Brazil, remarried there and then died during the birth of a second child, leaving the child with his stepfather in Brazil.

David Goldman has been trying since then to regain custody, but the Brazilian courts have consistently decided for the stepfather.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was "pleased" to hear that the Brazilian Appellate Court in Rio de Janeiro had upheld a lower court decision that Sean should be reunited with his father, David, in New Jersey.

"We appreciate the assistance and cooperation of the government of Brazil in upholding its obligations under the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction," Clinton said in a statement. "It is my hope that this long legal process is now complete and that the Goldman family will be reunited quickly. "

US President Barack Obama in March was to have pressed Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva about the boy's release, and the US House of Representatives has passed a resolution unanimously calling on Brazilian authorities to return Sean to his native country.