SEAN GOLDMAN was 4 years old when his Brazilian-born mother took him from their New Jersey home for what Sean’s father, David Goldman, thought would be a two-week vacation. Five years passed before the father again laid eyes on his son. “It was very painful,’’ David Goldman recalled. “The first time I saw him after nearly five years, he looked at me and asked me where have I been all this time. . . . He was told that I didn’t love him, that I abandoned him, that I never wanted him.” The only unu... Read more

By Sherrina Navani, The Trentonian - All Bindu Philips wants for Christmas are her two young sons back, and thanks to a new bill passed by the House of Representatives, she may be closer than ever to getting her wish granted. Members of the House voted unanimously, in early December, to pass a bill to help bring home American children abducted to overseas destinations. The legislation, dubbed, the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act of 2013, will help l... Read more

The expanding fighting in the Republic of South Sudan has killed more than 500 people in recent days and injured four U.S. military personnel who were evacuating Americans and other foreigners from the country. The conflict endangers not only citizens of that country but threatens to negatively impact the country’s neighbors and the international community, said Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Org... Read more

By Susanne Cervenka, Asbury Park Press staff -- It could be another Christmas surprise for David Goldman, the former Tinton Falls man whose son, Sean, was returned to him on Christmas Eve four years ago. This time, the gift would be the passage of a law named for Goldman and his son that would help other families whose children have been kidnapped to foreign countries. After three years of negotiations, the “Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act” is head... Read more

Given David Goldman's well-chronicled five-year ordeal to be reunited with his son, who was abducted and taken to Brazil by his mother, it might seem odd to call him lucky. But considering how difficult it is for parents whose children were taken from them by a spouse or other family member to another country to succeed in having them returned, he is lucky indeed. Despite a 1980 international treaty that prohibits parents from fleeing to other countries until custody is decided, Sean is among a ... Read more

Jacob Ostreicher, an American businessman imprisoned without formal charges for 20 months in Bolivia, then detained for nearly other year, is finally back in the United States, said Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), a leading human rights advocate in Congress. “We are overjoyed that he is free,” Smith said. “It has been a long, painful road for Jacob and his family. He needs time to restore his health and rebuild his life, and he needs time with his family. A great injustice has been done to him ... Read more

IT'S RARE to see Congress agree on anything, so it was heartening to see a 398-0 vote Wednesday in the House of Representatives in support of a bill to help parents whose children were abducted by a spouse or other family member to live in another country. - There are existing laws that are supposed to help parents engaged in an international custody battle, such as the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. But the reality is that they aren't very effective. Rep... Read more

Written by Malia Rulon Herman, Gannett News Service -- The House voted unanimously on Wednesday to pass legislation from Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey that aims to crack down on countries that harbor children abducted by a parent. The bill was named for David Goldman of Tinton Falls, whose five-year fight to get his son back from Brazil drew international attention. Goldman’s son Sean was returned to him on Christmas Eve almost exactly four years ago. “Today, we have hope,” Goldman told reporte... Read more

FOX NEWS - The wife of an American pastor imprisoned for his faith in Iran said she was shocked to learn the U.S. government had been conducting secret negotiations with Iran even as State Department officials told her they could do little to free her husband because the nations have no diplomatic relations. Naghmeh Abedini, whose husband, Saeed Abedini, is serving an eight-year prison term in Iran after being arrested more than a year ago while visiting his homeland, told FoxNews.com she felt b... Read more

The plight of imprisoned Iranian-American Saeed Abedini was the topic of a congressional hearing Thursday chaired by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees global human rights issues. “As we speak, Pastor Abedini remains imprisoned in Iran, sharing a cell with violent criminals who have more than once surrounded Pastor Abedini as he tried to sleep, wielding knives and threatening his life,” Smith said. “Saeed Abedini is an American citizen. He we... Read more