Forensic Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatry

Forensic psychiatry

It's time to get back to this blog. A couple of nice comments have led me to try to be more diligent. What sort of topics would you like me to cover? Think of the interface of psychiatry and the law: evaluations of criminal behavior, the insanity defense, child custody, child abuse, foster care, posttraumatic stress disorder in litigation . . . The list goes on and on.

This is my blog - but it's also yours. Let me know what you'd like to read.

Brazil and Parental Kidnapping - The Hague Convention

This is unbelievable: you probably heard about the little boy from New Jersey who was kidnapped by his mother to Brazil several years ago. She was supposedly only going on a vacation, but she did not return. Then, to compound the tragedy, she subsequently died in childbirth. The child now lives with his stepfather, who will not give him back to the real father, in the United States. A lower court in Bolivia said the child must be returned, but this was vacated by an appellate court. So, the child remains in Bolivia!

International kidnapping was addressed by what is called the Hague Convention, because it was promulgated in the Netherlands. All member countries must hasten the return of children who are kidnapped to a signatory country. The United States ratified this Treaty in 1988.

Brazil signed on to the Hague Convention - but you wouldn't know it by this sad case.

Brazilian Kidnapping - Continued

Now, as if the torture has not been enough, Mr. Goldman, the child's father, has been invited to come down to Brazil for Christmas to be with "the family." It gets curiouser and curiouser. What a travesty of justice!

Brazil Kidnapping - Justice Prevails

It looks as if Brazil will finally return 9-year-old Sean Goldman to his father. The chief judge of the country made his decision. A nice Holiday present. There is a chance that the stepfather will still try to file an objection, but it is doubtful that will go anywhere.

Here is an example of the Hague Convention doing what it is supposed to do.

Other posts will discuss parental kidnapping in general. Did you know that several hundred thousand children are kidnapped by a parent or other family member every year?