Boy reunited with American dad in Brazil

But the boy’s maternal grandmother, Silvana Bianchi, said: “My heart is empty and broken because our love is missing. To take the boy on Christmas Day is a heinous crime.”

More like, for grandparents to keep a child from his only surviving parent for 5 years, is a heinous crime. This case has been a travesty from the beginning. The father has never done anything wrong. The mother was Brazilian so the maternal grandparents kidnapped (as far as I am concerned) the grandson. The grandparents and the scheister attorney in this case should be behind bars on this christmas day.

When the boy’s handover was blocked last week, the U.S. Senate put a hold on a trade deal worth about $2.75 billion a year to Brazil. President Barack Obama also discussed the matter with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

I am generally against such political practices but the Brazilian government has behaved so badly in this instance that I am glad the U.S. took international political actions. I would not mind seeing someone or some entity like a government stick it to the Brazilians one more time for good measure.

We should have sent Janet Reno and her posse over there to snatch that kid 4.5 years ago!

I am with you on Janet Reno! I have disliked the Brazilian Courts since they protected an arsonist years ago who killed 4 Seattle firemen. Brazil trys to call the shots, then cowers with the thought of losing billions. Their Courts are no differnt than the thugs running their streets. Glad it`s over, but sad for the spectacle this 9 yr old kid went through. I wish him a better life now.

goodDonkey: The father has never done anything wrong.

This is a great unknown you should not guess about. He and the boy's mother parted ways. Who knows why exactly. The mother took the boy to Brazil, and it was she who started the trend of keeping the father out of the boy's life. Again, who knows why. She may have a very good reason, a bad one, or no reason at all. And who knows what she told the grandparents.

We should have sent Janet Reno and her posse over there to snatch that kid 4.5 years ago!

Janet Reno belongs nowhere near children and nowhere near decisions involving children. She is more likely to get children killed than anything else, and she has in the past. The only place she belongs is in a jail cell.

To the first two posters: the boys mother died only last year.

taj, the legal battle has gone been going on since 2004, regardless of when the mother died. Besides, what does the timeline have to do with anything? It takes but a second negatively influence a childs life.

Pump, sorry I lumped you in as well above. I was just wanting to point out to GoodDonkey that the grandparents had not been keeoing "a child from his only surviving parent for 5 years".

I do not know enough of any facts to have an opinion on this particular case. In general, I wish people would just think of the kids first and respect the kids rights to know both sides of the family. I also understand that their are rare cases when one parent is so loony / pedo / violent etc., that the kids are probably better off not having contact, but those cases are not likely as common in reality as they are in excuse.

why are politicians, governments, tv companies interfering in family matters? Maybe, they should spend their resources in improving realtions among family, inculcate good values in young people etc so that this kind of situation does not occur. How selfish of adult to steal the beautiful childhood and the rights of children!

This is how I see it: The mother was a Brazilian, married an American man. In Latin America till very recently if not yet ongoing, it was considered that marrying an American was a good catch, getting a Green Card and an American consumerist lifestyle. Said woman took her child to Brazil, saying it was a two-weeks vacation; however she forced a divorce and married a Brazilian tycoon. Said Brazilian tycoon paid pricey lawyers to keep the child in Brazil. Woman dies in childbirth, Brazilian tycoon makes a Goliath-David esque legal battle (him being Goliath) to keep the child. Brazilian man became diplomatic trouble, had to give back the child. End.

I for one, feel that justice has been made. International parental child abduction is a terrible issue. How many stories of Japanese parents and grandparents abducting children into Japan and the left behind parent being helpless in the face of Japan being a haven for parental child abductors? The grandmother can say whatever she wishes, she had no right to abduct a child. Latin American culture does not condone such things. There are criminals. Maybe in time, after the child becomes a legal adult, he could travel to Brazil again. After all, the Brazilian family is stinking rich! They can easily afford to visit him in the US (under tight surveillance, that is!).

Typo: It should read "They are criminals," not there are criminals.

I had barely read the above article but I had seen an hour long program on NBC. It was an update show as they had previously shown the case up to another point. I was mixed up on the details and mistakenly thought I remembered the mother having died initially instead of the divorce that took place. Although I was wrong on the details, my main complaint is the time after she died that the grandparents kept the kid.

Heheh, if Janet Reno was running Brazil, the child would be with his father 5 years ago.