TRENTON, N.J. - A man who brought his son home to the United States from Brazil after winning a bitter custody battle said in an interview aired Monday that he's thrilled they have been reunited but is still waiting to be called "Dad."

"I said, 'You can call me Dad,'" David Goldman said on NBC's "Today" show. "And he didn't say anything."

Goldman brought 9-year-old Sean back from Brazil on Christmas Eve after a five-year international custody dispute. The boy's mother, Bruna Bianchi, took Sean to her native Brazil in 2004, divorced Goldman and remarried. Goldman began legal efforts to get his son back.

After Bianchi died last year in childbirth, her husband, Paulo Lins e Silva, continued the legal fight and won temporary custody. A ruling last week by the chief justice of the Brazilian Supreme Court finally cleared the way for the boy's return.

NBC paid for Goldman's charter plane from Rio de Janeiro back to the U.S. The father and son have been staying with relatives in Orlando, Fla.

Goldman has not said when he'll bring Sean back home to Tinton Falls, N.J. He says the boy is happy to be with him but needs time to adjust.

"I missed five previous years of my son's life," Goldman said. "That's a big scar. Now we're together, and we'll heal."

Goldman said he's looking forward to taking his son canoeing, something Sean enjoyed when he was younger.

He said the boy remembers a bit about his life in New Jersey and has asked whether his bedroom had been changed.

When Goldman told him it had been left as it was when the boy was 4, Sean rolled his eyes at the thought of staying in a little kid's room. Goldman said they would redo it together.

Although the fight is over in Brazilian courts, there is still possible action in the case.

Goldman's lawyer, Patricia Apy, says details still need to be worked out for conditions of visitation for the boy's family in Brazil.

Goldman says he doesn't want to deny them access to the boy the way they kept him away.

There could also be legislation to address other international abduction cases.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican who traveled to Brazil with Goldman several times, is pushing a bill that would allow the U.S. to impose sanctions on countries that don't comply with an international treaty on how to handle similar abduction cases.

There are about 2,800 such cases worldwide involving children from the U.S., officials say.



Fanta's thread reminded me of this

This, his mothers death, and the blood relation makes the difference.

what makes a difference? Sorry...I'm confuzzeled today

The boy lived with his father til he was 4. He knows him, remembers him, and it's his biological child.

The 7 yr old left when she was less than a yr old. Therefore, she can't remember the woman, can't remember ever living with her, isn't related, and has been raised, for the last 6 yrs, in a lifestyle that doesn't agree with homosexuality.

This is how it should be..long ago.
The difference Kim is this guy is the biological father,
and was married to this woman. The woman went back to Brazil without his knowledge and filed for divorce, married a rich lawyer and never gave the father any say. When she died the $$$ the new husband had was what kept it held up..the boy should have gone immediately to his father.

you guys have to connect the dots for me in what you are saying the first time. I am a bit rusty in my debates....oh wait...I agree

need to find something I disagree with

You're a nut Kim!


True blond too, I'll bet!

I'm RUSTY

Just wait until I get in the swing of things again. I just might argue for the sake of arguing

You?

NOooooooo,,,,