Author Topic: Brazil woman appealing order to give boy to US dad (Read 6790 times)

M.Capestro · « **on:** April 25, 2010, 04:25:56 PM »

Brazil woman appealing order to give boy to US dad
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/25/AR2010042502153.html
By TALES AZZONI
The Associated Press
Sunday, April 25, 2010; 3:16 PM

SAO PAULO -- A Brazilian woman ordered to relinquish her son to his American father in an international child abduction case is appealing the ruling, but her lawyer says she will not try to evade justice, local news media reported.

Hilma Aparecida Caldeira, 38, a bronze medal winner at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta as part of Brazil's national volleyball team, has not appeared in public since the case surfaced, and her whereabouts are unclear.

She has not fled, Gilberto Antonio Guimaraes told Globo TV's G1 website.

"She will not create difficulties," Guimaraes said. "She is not missing or hiding, just taking some time at her home to absorb the moment."

Attempts to contact Caldeira or her lawyer were unsuccessful Sunday.

Caldeira brought the boy to the South American country in 2006 to visit relatives and then stayed, filing the same year for divorce and for custody, according to the father.

Kelvin Birotte, a 43-year-old Houston man, told The Associated Press on Saturday that he last saw his son, also named Kelvin, at a court hearing in 2007 when the boy was 1 1/2 years old. He turns 5 on Aug. 29.
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The order to hand the boy over to his father was based on the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, according to U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Orna Blum. Permanent custody is a separate issue to be decided later by U.S. courts.

Birotte, who is in Brazil, said the deadline for the handover is Thursday.

He said he has drawn inspiration from the case of David Goldman, a New Jersey man who was reunited with his 9-year-old son, Sean, in December after a five-year battle in U.S. and Brazilian courts.

The two fathers have never met, but Birotte said he e-mailed Goldman messages of support.

pam.in.ny · « **Reply #1 on:** April 25, 2010, 06:18:30 PM »

I wonder how long they are going to drag this one out with appeals. Hopefully, she'll do
what is right and had the boy over to the father by Thursday.

JuliRosi · « **Reply #2 on:** April 25, 2010, 06:19:14 PM »

"She will not create difficulties,"

So, it is better that she returns her son to the USA

Does she take time at her home?

But, other newspapers say different?! :confused:

tweinstein · « **Reply #3 on:** April 25, 2010, 06:24:13 PM »

Quote from: pam.in.ny on April 25, 2010, 06:18:30 PM

I wonder how long they are going to drag this one out with appeals. Hopefully, she'll do
what is right and had the boy over to the father by Thursday.

Unfortunately, Thursday was last Thursday. By now, Kelvin is probably getting ready to return (empty-handed) to the United States.

Shar · « **Reply #4 on:** April 25, 2010, 06:47:12 PM »

She has not fled, Gilberto Antonio Guimaraes told Globo TV's G1 website.

"She will not create difficulties," Guimaraes said. "She is not missing or hiding, just taking some time at her home to absorb the moment."

I'm greatly relieved that at least she's not in hiding with Kelvin. She must know her time's running out. Hopefully, this won't continue to drag out. I believe that with all the publicity on this issue, beginning with David and Sean's case, Kelvin will be reunited soon with his son, Kelvin. After seeing the return of Sean to David in December, Kelvin's ex-wife must know she's just about out of options and that their son WILL be returned to the U.S.

Just look back to the (even sorrier!) state of affairs this time last year. Things are slowly moving in the right direction...& there's so much more public awareness of international kidnapping and the Hague. The delays are still beyond excruciating. Hopefully, they'll keep getting shorter and shorter until the rule of international law is finally respected without reservation.

The two rulings to return kidnapped children to the U.S. should start having a powerful effect on parents who even THINK about international kidnapping. The Birotte ruling illustrates that David's case wasn't just an anomaly.

UD_student · « **Reply #5 on:** April 25, 2010, 09:08:28 PM »

Quote from: Shar on April 25, 2010, 06:47:12 PM

The Birotte ruling illustrates that David's case wasn't just an anomaly.

While I agree least one judge has ordered the return of a child who had two living parents, one of whom abducted the child, I think it is too early to tell if this ruling appropriately applying the Hague Convention is an anomaly or not. I feel that way because the rulings I am aware of since Sean returning home are one for returning an abducted/illegally retained child (Birotte) and one against returning abducted/illegally retained children (Weinstein) in Hague cases where the children clearly should have been returned.

Shar · « **Reply #6 on:** April 25, 2010, 09:17:48 PM »

Kelvin Birotte’s international custody case starting to resemble N.J. father’s Brazilian ordeal Sunday, 25 April 2010 19:35

http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/international/kelvin-birottes-international-custody-case-starting-to-resemble-nj-fathers-brazilian-ordeal

BY ALICIA CRUZ
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
A Brazilian has once again been ordered by the court to relinquish custody of her son to his American father, who has spent the past four years fighting for custody of the child after his mother took him to Brazil to visit relatives in 2006 and never returned.

Hilma Aparecida Caldeira, a one-time Olympic contender and former member of Brazil's national volleyball team filed for divorce and custody of her son the same year she returned to Brazil. She has been ordered, for a second time in four months, to return her 4-year-old son, Kelvin, to his father, Kelvin Birotte of Houston.

Birotte, who said he has been unable to reach his estranged wife since he arrived in Rio de Janeiro, told the Associated Press that the deadline for his ex-wife to return his son is set for Thursday, but that he learned she has filed an appeal to the custody order.

In an attempt to encourage Caldeira to telephone him, Birotte has posted a phone number on his Facebook page hoping his estranged wife will call. He has no idea what city Caldeira and his son are in, but vows to remain in Brazil until the custody dispute is settled.

"I'm going to be here until something happens, good or bad," said Birotte, who has not seen his son since at court hearing in 2007 when the little boy was a year and a half old.

The dad had a simple yet powerful message for his son, "Daddy loves him and he misses him."

The Birotte/Caldeira custody dispute mirrors another international custody dispute that took nearly five years to settle after the boy's mother died and his stepfather fought to keep the boy rather than return him to his biological father in the United States.

David Goldman of Tinton Falls, N.J. fought his former wife, Bruna Bianchi of Brazil for custody of their son, Sean. After Bianchi died while giving birth to a child she bore with her new husband, Goldman was swept into a legal battle with Bianchi's new husband and father-in-law. The case was finally resolved after a Brazilian Supreme Court judge backed a federal court's ruling that ordered the Brazilian family to return Sean, then nine-years-old, to his father.

Birotte told the media he drew inspiration from Goldman's battle, but the two fathers have yet to meet.

forthelost · « **Reply #7 on:** April 26, 2010, 04:17:14 PM »

Quote from: tweinstein on April 25, 2010, 06:24:13 PM

Quote from: pam.in.ny on April 25, 2010, 06:18:30 PM
I wonder how long they are going to drag this one out with appeals. Hopefully, she'll do
what is right and had the boy over to the father by Thursday.
Unfortunately, Thursday was last Thursday. By now, Kelvin is probably getting ready to return (empty-handed) to the United States.

No, the dad himself mentioned on facebook it is this Thursday.