International child abductions by parents rising

Goldman of Tinton Falls, N.J., is seeking to regain custody of his 9-year-old son, after his ex-wife, who has since died, took their child to her native Brazil. (AP Photo/Fabio Pozzebom, File)

NEWARK, N.J. – It was a globe-trotting romance: a handsome American working as a model in Italy falls in love with a Brazilian beauty studying fashion design in Milan. They marry in 1999, settle in the tony New Jersey shore town of Red Bank, and have a son.

The woman, Bruna Bianchi, took the couple’s son to visit her relatives in Brazil in 2004 but never returned. The boy’s father, David Goldman of Tinton Falls, N.J., has been battling to get his son back ever since.

While the Goldman case has been prominent in recent news coverage, it isn’t the only dramatic custody case being fought across international borders. The U.S. State Department says such parental abductions involving American children are rising. There were more than 1,000 new cases of American children taken by a parent to another country last year , a 35 percent increase over 2007, according to the department.

Source: philly.com

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