The custody battle that David Goldman, Tinton Falls, has been fighting since 2004 to get his 9-year-old son home took a new turn this morning.

On June 22, Sean Goldman announced to the media that he would like to stay in Brazil.

Apparently, several U.S. agencies including the Senate and President Barack Obama have all intervened and joined the call for Brazil to return Sean to his father in New Jersey.

However, at the moment, the drama is being played on air.

"Every moment that he is there, he is being damaged," David said to CBS.

Sean's Brazilian family hopes the boy's own words will help sway any decision.

It all started when Sean's mother, Bruna, took him on what was supposed to be a two-week trip to her native Brazil on June 16, 2004, according to a CBS report.
Then she called her husband to say that the marriage was over. A Brazilian judge granted her a divorce and she re-married. 

Reportedly, last August, she had another child, but died in childbirth. That's when a judge granted custody of Sean to his stepfather. Since then, Goldman has been trying to get his son back.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the New Jersey State Senate have also called for the boy's return.

A few months back, David said on a network morning news program that he was able to see the boy and reported that the custody battle is wearing on the child.

David told CBS earlier that his son is "not in a good emotional state."

According to Congressman Christopher Smith, R-NJ, who has been to Brazil with David, that family has deep political connections, including being related to the country's president, an earlier CBS report indicated.

"They are a very powerful legal family, with lawyers from one of the biggest law firms in Rio De Janiero," Smith told CBS. "They have, unfortunately, exploited the system."

Reportedly, a friend of David's told CBS that the Brazilian family is going to extreme lengths to keep Sean in South America.

"Their claim to Sean is obviously not biological and so they've gone down this path of making up terms like socio-effective paternity, essentially claiming that Sean has been with them long enough, he's acclimated there, he's comfortable there," he said. "That seems to be the path they've taken, they've tried to divert attention away from the Hague Convention."

The Hague Convention, a treaty signed by the U.S. and Brazil, forbids parental abductions like what Sean's mother did. President Obama has called on the country to honor the Convention, but so far they have not.

For more information on David's efforts visit: http://bringseanhome.org/home.html