[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 125 Engrossed in House (EH)]

H. Res. 125

                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                        March 11, 2009.
Whereas David Goldman has been trying unsuccessfully since June 17, 2004, to 
        secure the return of his son Sean to the United States where Sean 
        maintained his habitual residence until his mother, Bruna Bianchi 
        Ribeiro Goldman, removed Sean to Brazil;
Whereas on August 26, 2004, the Superior Court of New Jersey awarded custody to 
        Mr. Goldman, ordered Mrs. Goldman and her parents to immediately return 
        Sean to the United States, and indicated to Mrs. Goldman and her parents 
        that their continued behavior constituted parental kidnaping under 
        United States law;
Whereas on September 3, 2004, Mr. Goldman filed an application for the immediate 
        return of Sean to the United States under the 1980 Hague Convention on 
        the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the ``Hague 
        Convention'') to which both the United States and Brazil are party and 
        which entered into force between Brazil and the United States on 
        December 1, 2003;
Whereas on August 22, 2008, Mrs. Goldman passed away in Brazil leaving Sean 
        without a mother and separated from his biological father in the United 
        States;
Whereas Mr. Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, whom Mrs. Goldman married in Brazil, has 
        petitioned the Brazilian courts for custody rights over Sean Goldman and 
        to replace Mr. Goldman's name with his own name on a new birth 
        certificate to be issued to Sean, despite the fact that Mr. Goldman, not 
        Mr. Lins e Silva, is Sean's biological father;
Whereas furthermore, the United States and Brazil have expressed their desire, 
        through the Hague Convention, ``to protect children internationally from 
        the harmful effects of their wrongful removal or retention and to 
        establish procedures to ensure their prompt return to the State of their 
        habitual residence'';
Whereas according to the Department of State, there are 51 cases involving 65 
        children who were habitual residents of the United States and who were 
        removed to Brazil by a parent and have not been returned to the United 
        States as required under the Hague Convention;
Whereas according to the Department of State's April 2008 Report on Compliance 
        with the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child 
        Abduction, ``parental child abduction jeopardizes the child and has 
        substantial long-term consequences for both the child and the left-
        behind parent'';
Whereas the Department of State's Office of Children's Issues, while not always 
        notified of international child abductions, is currently handling 
        approximately 1,900 open cases of parental abduction to other countries 
        involving more than 2,800 children abducted from the United States;
Whereas in fiscal year 2007, the United States Central Authority responded to 
        cases involving 821 children abducted from the United States to 
        countries with which the United States partners under the Hague 
        Convention, but during that same time period only 217 children were 
        returned from Hague Convention partner countries to the United States;
Whereas according to the Department of State, Honduras has not acted in 
        compliance with the terms it agreed to as a party to the Hague 
        Convention, and Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, 
        Mexico, Poland, and Venezuela have demonstrated patterns of 
        noncompliance based on their Central Authority performance, judicial 
        performance, or law enforcement performance of the obligations of the 
        Hague Convention;
Whereas according to the Department of State, in fiscal year 2008, the United 
        States Central Authority counted 306 cases of parental abductions 
        involving 455 children taken from the United States to other countries 
        that are not partners with the United States under the Hague Convention, 
        currently including 101 children in Japan, 67 children in India, and 37 
        children in Russia;
Whereas three-year-old Melissa Braden is among the children who have been 
        wrongfully abducted to Japan, a United States ally which does not 
        recognize intra-familial child abduction as a crime, and though its 
        family laws do not discriminate by nationality, Japanese courts give no 
        recognition to the parental rights of the non-Japanese parent, fail to 
        enforce United States court orders relating to child custody or 
        visitation, and place no effective obligation on the Japanese parent to 
        allow parental visits for their child;
Whereas Melissa was taken from Los Angeles, California to Japan on March 16, 
        2006, when she was 11-months-old, despite a California court's prior 
        order forbidding Melissa's removal to Japan and granting joint custody 
        to her father Patrick Braden;
Whereas despite his extensive efforts, Mr. Braden and his daughter have not seen 
        each other since her abduction;
Whereas according to the Department of State, abducted children are at risk of 
        serious emotional and psychological problems and have been found to 
        experience anxiety, eating problems, nightmares, mood swings, sleep 
        disturbances, aggressive behavior, resentment, guilt and fearfulness, 
        and as adults may struggle with identity issues, their own personal 
        relationships and parenting; and
Whereas left-behind parents may encounter substantial psychological, emotional, 
        and financial problems and many may not have the financial resources to 
        pursue civil or criminal remedies for the return of their children in 
        foreign courts or political systems: Now, therefore, be it:
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the House of Representatives--
                    (A) calls on Brazil to, in accordance with its obligations 
                under the Hague Convention and with extreme urgency, bring about 
                the return of Sean Goldman to his father, David Goldman, in the 
                United States;
                    (B) urges all countries determined by the Department of 
                State to have issues of non-compliance with the Hague Convention 
                to fulfill their obligation under international law to take all 
                appropriate measures to secure within their respective 
                territories the implementation of the Hague Convention and to 
                use the most expeditious procedures available; and
                    (C) calls on all other nations to join the Hague Convention 
                and to establish procedures to promptly and equitably address 
                the tragedy of child abductions, given the increase of 
                transnational marriages and births, the number of international 
                child abduction cases and the serious consequences to children 
                of not expeditiously resolving these cases; and
            (2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
        States should--
                    (A) review its diplomatic procedures and the operations 
                available to United States citizens through its central 
                authority under the Hague Convention to ensure that effective 
                assistance is provided to Mr. Goldman and other United States 
                citizens in obtaining the expeditious return of their children 
                from Brazil and other countries that have entered into the 
                reciprocal obligations with the United States under the Hague 
                Convention;
                    (B) take other appropriate measures to ensure that Hague 
                Convention partners return abducted children to the United 
                States in compliance with the Hague Convention's provisions;
                    (C) diplomatically urge other nations to become parties to 
                the Hague Convention and establish systems to effectively 
                discharge their reciprocal responsibilities under the 
                Convention; and
                    (D) continue to work aggressively for the return of children 
                abducted from the United States to other nations and for 
                visitation rights for their left-behind parents when return is 
                not yet achieved.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.