It's Time for Brazil to Comply with the Hague Convention

In America when it comes to custody of a child from Cuba such as Elian Gonzalez, the American legal system sent the child back to Cuba in compliance with both the Hague Convention and the custodial rights of his father.

In Brazil, their legal system is yet to return David Goldman, he is still awaiting the return of his son from the Brazilian legal system even after efforts by U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and other U.S. politicians.

I simply don't understand what legal position the particular judges in Brazil can find to justify a parental kidnapping. If it were their children or grandchildren that were married to an American living in the United States and the American Citizen left Brazil, the child's country of residence with no court order and parentally kidnapped the child, wouldn't they want their child or grandchild back in Brazil? Furthermore, in David Goldman's case, what if the biological parent passed? Wouldn't they want the child living with their biological parent? Is it Anti-Americanism? Or is is Anti-Americanism toward the American legal system, the best in the world? What about the case of Francois Larivee, a Canadian Citizen? Shame on those judges! Shame on the Brazilian government for not pressuring those judges to do the right thing for this child!

David Goldman (American seeking custody of his child in Brazil)
http://www.brazzil.com/component/content/article/200-january-2009/10164-the-brazilian-american-war-for-a-little-boy.html

Francois Larivee (Canadian seeking custody of his child in Brazil)
http://www.internationalfamilylawfirm.com/2009/01/brazils-compliance-with-hague-abduction.html

In Sean Goldman Case - Brazilian Legal System Now on Trial

It was April 22, 2000 when Elian Gonzalez was removed from his relatives home in Miami and he was reunited with his father. After that, it took the American Legal System just over two months to allow is father Juan Miguel Gonzalez to fly back home with Elian. Now the Brazilian Court system is on trial to order step father and attorney Mr. Lins e Silva to do the right thing and send Sean Goldman home to New Jersey, USA to live with his custodial father David Goldman. The Brazilian local court was wrong to grant a divorce to the mother in Brazil and made the situation worse by not immediately ordering Lins e Silva to immediately start reunification efforts to transfer custody to Sean's biological father. Now the Brazilian court system has the opportunity to correct this.

(source: pbs.org)

I applaud the efforts of Secretary State Hilary Rodham Clinton as well as Senators Lautenberg, Menendez and Feingold for speaking up for the rights of Sean Goldman, David Goldman. The plight of the victim parents and victim children of International Family Abduction cases is one that few politicians in Washington have taken the time to address.

I'm sure anxious victim parents with International Family Abduction cases await the verdict in this case. Now it's time for the Brazil and their court system to do the right thing. Put Sean Goldman on a plane for United States right now, just like the United States did with Elian Gonzalez.

What do Sean Goldman and Elian Gonzalez have in common?

This is not an underground case but I wanted to voice my opinions about it.

So what do Sean Goldman, 8 years old son of International parental kidnapping victim parent David Goldman http://www.bringseanhome.org and Elian Gonzalez, 7 years on June 28, 2000, son of Juan Miguel Gonzalez Quintana of Cuba have in common? Both Sean Goldman mother and Elian Gonzalez mother tragically died and at very young ages found themselves involved in International parental kidnapping cases (source: Wikipedia).

In the United States of America, some of us claim to have the best legal system in the world, bar none. Despite what some special interest cause groups in America think, I believe this extends to our family court system, especially in our handling of International Parental Kidnapping cases such as the Elian Gonzalez case. On June 28, 2000, after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, the boy's asylum petition filed on behalf of a Miami relative was upheld by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta and Elian was returned to his biological father in Cuba. That cases involved International politics but eventually the correct decision was made in accordance with International parental kidnapping treaties such as the Hague Convention.

In Sean Goldman's case, he was born in the United States in 2000, the son of parents David Goldman of New Jersey and Bruna Ribeiro, a Brazilian national. In June 2004, Bruno Ribeiro boarded a plane in New Jersey for Rio de Janeiro. She called her husband David and told him she wanted a divorce and was keeping their son in Brazil. As in many International parental kidnapping cases, rather than seek custody of the child through the child's last residence, the New Jersey county court, she took the law into her own hands and fled to Brazil, playing judge, jury and executioner, refusing to let David see his son. To further complicate matters, during the ensuing International legal battle, Bruna Ribeiro, the abducting parent was granted a divorce in Brazil, married her lawyer Joao Paulo Lins e Silva a son of a family law attorney in Rio, then died during the birth of a new child in 2008. The Brazilian court granted custody to the step father, Mr. Lins e Silva and since that time, despite litigation, David Goldman has only seen his son once and the Brazilian Court refuses to return Sean Goldman to his biological parent. With the Brazilian step grandfather a family law attorney and the wife marrying her attorney, this case is not as much about International politics like the Gonzalez case as it is about the shortcomings of the Brazilian family court system and the lack of response by the Brazilian government to intervene.

Nevertheless, the New York Times is reporting that it is possible that Hilary Rodham Clinton, America's new Secretary of State might add this case as an agenda item when speaking to Celso Amorim, the Brazilian foreign minister when they meet today. As a member of the family abduction victim parent community, I would really like to see Hilary step up to the plate ensure Sean Goldman is returned to his biological father, David Goldman immediately as well as other kidnapped children residing in Brazil.

Mark Baskin and Debbie Baskin on the Today Show

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How Did Marvin Maple Create a New Identity?

Perhaps if we understand how Marvin Maple created a new identity, we can find the location of other missing children and parental kidnappers. Below is a search on a free site: www.PeopleFinders.com with the search results for John Bunting and Marvin Maple. It is suprisingly looks like very accurate information. What investigators need to do is to find out how Marvin Maple created this new identity and those third parties that aided and abetted him.

Marvin L. Maple Arrested

Here are pictures of Marvin L. Maple. Is parental kidnapping worth it?

Faye Yager Link to Marvin Maple Case - Get a Warrant

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported on July 16, 1990 about Faye Yager or Faye Yaegers link to the Marvin Maple and Sandra Maple kidnapping of the Baskin children. When a child is recovered in these underground cases, it is important for law enforcement to get a warrant to gather evidence on who helped or has been helping the abductor stay in hiding. That said, because the abductor Marvin Maple was arrested in San Jose and will be extradited to Tennessee for prosecution, it is unlikely Tennessee law enforcement will get a warrant for searching Marvin Maple's home to find his address book, computer records, phone bills, credit card receipts and bank records. Usually, the abductor will use phone cards so a limited number of phone records exist.

In 1992, Faye Yager was unsuccessfully prosecuted by a District Attorney in Georgia. We'll see if the Tennessee District Attorney will also seek charges and evidence against third party co-conspirators in 1989. Also, there should be an investigation into how Marvin Maple was able to create false identities and social security numbers for his adult children. This information could lead to the hope for more parents that are still searching for their children such as victim parents and the arrest of abducting mothers with ties to Faye Yager's Underground like: Elizabeth Stratton, Antioch, CA in December 1997, Dorothy Lee Barnett, April 1994 and Annette Rosenberg in October 1990. These cases are still open...


Here is the info on the link between Faye Yager's Children of the Underground and Marvin Maple.

Mrs. Baskin thinks activist Faye Yager played a part in her parents' flight and their earlier campaign to destroy the Baskins in court.

"There are records that my parents called Faye Yager two or three times in February [1989]," Mrs. Baskin said. Police confirmed the calls.

Mrs. Yager, whose Atlanta-based underground network hides allegedly abused children, was recently charged with kidnapping and cruelty to children for allegedly intimidating a child to lie about sexual abuse and satanism in an unrelated case. She has denied the allegation.

Mrs. Yager said she talked to the Maples "several different times" before they fled with the Baskin children, "but they are not a part of my underground," she said. "I gave them advice on what I'd do if they were my children. I told them step by step. If they've followed my direction, they've done a good job."

Mrs. Yager said she believes the Maples' allegations about the Baskins but said she has not talked to the elder couple since before their disappearance and does not know where they are.

Reference: Atlanta Journal Constitution

Marvin Maple is Arrested - Chisti and Bobby Baskin Found

Chisti and Bobby Baskin were abducted by their grandparents, Marvin Maple and Sandra Maple. Marvin and the children were found in San Jose, California living under assumed names. The children Christi and Bobby are now adults, age 28 and 27.

The left behind parents, Mark and Debbie Baskin are now living in Georgia. The grandparents were Debbie Baskin's parents.

There were alleged links to Faye Yager in this case and if it can be proved that Yager helped, it would be nice to see some government agency seek prosecution in this case. Could you image not seeing your children for 20 years?

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The San Diego IVAT Conference - the deadline to surrender

In covering the underground cases for the past decade, one thing is perfectly clear, the professionals come out to one of the Domestic Violence or Abuse and Trauma conferences in San Diego to promote the "protective parent" or undeground parental kidnapping cause. This makes us very angry as how can anyone promote kidnapping a child from another parent, there are always legal alternatives. Furthermore, why would any parent use their child as a "poster child" for any cause like Holly Ann Collins and the rest of the protective parent cause is doing with Jennifer Collins.

In reviewing the program to this conference we find some of the professionals deeply involved in past cases representing underground moms are actually speaking at these conferences regarding custody evalauations. We see the same names, Joyanna Silberg, Richard Ducote, Meera Fox and Alan Rosenfeld. If it were our child that needed protected, these individuals would be the last that we would want involved in the case.

We find others with questionable backgrounds like Connie Valentine of the California Protective Parents Assocation who awarded Jennifer Collins with their medal of courage. According to the Sacramento Bee Newspaper, Connie Valentine claimed a satanic cult forced her to kill people when she was a little girl....

"A state employee who works with mental health patients has been reassigned to administrative duties after her appearance on a nationally televised show in which she claimed a satanic cult forced her to kill people when she was a little girl." See: http://www.holysmoke.org/sdhok/sat39.htm

I always find it fascinating how some youthful district attorneys are unable to discern the A list child abuse professionals from the others. Some of these organizations are filled with what I call "extremists" with tenets similar to some very horrible organizations in American history.

In any regard, these San Diego Conferences have in the past decade have publcized many child abuse and underground cases from Kee McFarland the puppet lady in the McMartin Preschool case to Faye Yager of the Children of the Underground. Before this year, we thought with Faye Yager and Joan Pennington's alleged retirement that the underground or protective parent cause was dead. With today's CPS Services vastly improved since they were originally formed with the Modale Act of 1974, why would it be necessary for any mother or parent to go undeground? Unfortunately, in San Diego last month, there are some who still believe this is a legal alternative. I just hope that no one who attended that conference believed it.

Holly Ann Collins - 43

One thing I noticed about underground moms is that the before and after pictures should convince any mother never to go underground. Living underground, especially in a foreign country is not easy and mothers living in hiding often go without proper healthcare. One underground mom, Dorie Singley died of a brain aneurysm while underground because she did not seek appropriate medical care.

See the before and after pictures of Holly Ann Collins below.










Photos: Fox9

Holly Ann Collins Pleads Guility - Moms Up Finally

Okay, Holly Ann Collins finally plead guilty. But where's the remorse? Where's the restitution for the searching parent victim? The District Attorney wimped out in this case but he also saved the searching victim parent from having to endure a long court case costing the taxpayers thousands of dollars. Where's the gag order on Holly Ann Collins or her parentally brainwashed child? You take the law into your own hands and you get 40 hours of community service?

I hope this is the last we've heard of Holly Ann Collins. I hope she goes on to become a productive member of society by taking care of her young children. And finally, I hope she doesn't think she has a book deal here! Book readers are more interested in reading about more credible people such as Alec Baldwin.

Another Parental Kidnapping Case

The plight and frustrations of left-behind victim parents like the former spouse of Holly Ann Collins could further be described in the case of David Goldman and his quest to retrieve his son from Brazil. After Goldman's former spouse, a citizen of Brazil kidnapped their son Sean Goldman to Brazil, she later died. Since then, the left-behind parent David Goldman who recently appeared on the Today Show with his story, has been unable to bring his son back home to the United States. Meanwhile, in Brazil, the mother's new husband has taken efforts in Brazil to adopt the child and remove David's name from the child's birth certificate, eventhough the child was born in the United States. See his blog below.

David Goldman Blog

There hasn't been much to write about Holly Ann Collins. She doesn't have the courage to mom-up and turn herself in to authorities. We sincerely hope that any responsible journalists will not waste their time and write any favorable stories about her...in doing so, they would show how insensitive that would be to the left-behind parent...the other victim in these cases.

Holly Ann Collins won't Mom Up until after the Olympics

We've been following these underground parental kidnapping cases for years and there is little doubt Holly Ann Collins won't be surrendering until after the Olympics. In these types of case, the proclaimed indigent parental kidnapper seeks publicity for her story to raise money for her defense. I believe this strategy is promoted by the underground attorneys who are know to fly around the country and have a desire to stay in very nice hotels, even when paid for by local public defender's offices or the parental kidnapper's families. For that to happen, she must use the media.

I've seen her story promoted on many of the websites and I simply can't believe how the site owners can unilaterally copy and paste the information provided to them by Holly Ann Collins or her alleged supporters. To be honest, some of the information appears like a template from the other cases, all she had to do was to substitute her name.

So enjoy the rest of your summer Holly Ann Collins because I am hoping that after the Olympics, it's your turn to "mom up"!

Bail or No Bail

Our U.S. Constitution guarantees every individual the right to reasonable bail. A court may deny bail in cases charging murder or treason, or when there is a danger that the defendant will flee or commit mayhem. Parental kidnapper Clark Rockefeller is currently being held without bail.

In parental kidnapping cases it is common for judges to set a very high amount of bail and unusual to deny bail completely. There is little doubt Clark Rockefeller and Holly Ann Collins if arrested 14 years ago would not be flight risks. In both cases, the protection of the young children from a re-abduction would have been at issue and a very high bail or not bail would be in order. However, now that the Collins children are adults, it is likely that Holly Collins if and when she decides to "mom up" will not be held without bail or a high bail set.

That all said, there should be conditions of bail. For example, Collins should agree to surrender all passports. All victims including her adult children should refrain from contact with the accused so she cannot influence their testimony. Holly Collin's former spouse did not see his children for 14 years, would one or two years during a jury trial be really that bad. Finally, a gag order should prevent her from criticizing the very system that she alleges could not protect her children. This case needs to be determined in a court room rather than in the media.

Clark Rockefeller Case Updates

Here are some updates from Youtube.com on the Clark Rockefeller case. The abducting father is in jail without bail.

NY Daily News is reporting Clark Rockefeller in Custody

For searching parent Sandra Boss, the fantastic news today is that her daughter has been found and her former spouse, Clark Rockefeller is in custody. Rockefeller is reported to have been located in Maryland. The child will be reunited with her mother shortly.

For Sandra Boss, this horrible parental kidnapping and nightmare ended in a several days. For Holly Ann Collin's former spouse and his family members, it took 14 years for them to know the location of their children.

I think each and every left-behind victim parent is disgusted with the actions of Holly Ann Collins for the last 14 years. That said, all of us are happy for Sandra Boss.

The Kid is With a Parent, How Bad Can It Be? - Don't Say This!

On the NBC Today Show this morning, veteran reporter Matt Lauer asked the former baby sitter of 7-year old Reigh Boss if she thought alleged parental kidnapper Clark Rockefeller was a threat to the safety of the girl. The former baby sitter replied, "From what I know of Clark, I don't think he would ever harm her physically."

This leads to the plight of left-behind victim parents like Sandra L. Boss, a senior partner at McKinsey & Co. As even veteran reporters like Matt Lauer try to uncover the persona of a parental kidnapper, the answer is no one has any idea if this child is safe and few are qualified to render an opinion. A few social scientists may provide a opinion, but none of us really no for sure since Clark Rockefeller has gone undergrond, dropped out our criminal justice and family court system like Holly Ann Collins did.

This furthermore leads me to a point made by Ernie Allen, the President of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Center. He says,

"The incidence study clearly establishes that the problem of child abduction by family members is a serious one in the United States and promises to become a greater policy challenge for elected officials. Yet is a problem that many law-enforcement and criminal-justice officials choose not to address. Far to frequently, we hear...parental kidnapping is not a law-enforcement problem, it is a civil problem, domestic relations, something lawyers should work out, ... the kid is with a parent, how bad can it be?"

For searching parents like Sandra Boss and Holly Ann Collin's former spouse the very worst thing anyone especially a law enforcement official or a member of the media could ever say or even think is the following: "at least your child is with the other parent, how bad can it be?" Well, for any searching parent it's bad, it's horrible! In Sandra Boss' case, she is probably thinking, will I ever see my 7 year old daughter again? For Holly Ann Collin's former spouse, he spent 14 years with that same thought. For anyone to think that these children are not being harmed or were not harmed by a parental kidnapping is a truly a horrible thing.

For more information on on the Ernie Allen Article, here is a download link.

- The Editor
The Children of the Underground Watch Newsletter
"Holly Ann Collin's it's time to Mom Up"
"Clark Rockefeller, it's time to Dad Up"

Socialite Sandra Boss - Plight of Victim Parents

If you have seen this morning's news including the NBC Today Show, U.K. socialite Sandra Boss and now left-behind victim parent is shown in a taped video begging for the return of her daughter. Her former husband Clark Rockefeller kidnapped her daughter from Boston, Massachusetts. Boss is a Senior Partner with McKinsey & Co. and had sole custody of her daughter in the UK and provided custody access (I hate the word visitation) in the United States to her former spouse. The daughter was abducted during that time. Rockefeller was the main caregiver for the child prior to the divorce.



Sandra Boss is not the first high-profile executive to be involved in a family abduction. In the late '90s, Ellen Dever went underground with her daughter and her former spouse the left-behind parent was a very wealthy businessman. He offered a $1 million reward. That father even allowed his picture to be printed on Time Magazine. That case was also controversial because photo journalist Allan Detrich took pictures of Ellen Dever going underground during the kidnapping. The children were later found by a private detective in Switzerland and returned to the father but only after he filed a lawsuit against Faye Yager. There are some who believe that Yager took some of that reward money.

In 1994, when Holly Ann Collins abducted her children, we did not see the type of media coverage that the Sandra Boss case is getting. For any left-behind parent, it is a horrbile nightmere to be put in the position of having to find their kidnapped children. Especially with the limited resources available to them. In these cases, here are some of their options:

1. Television Media - Back in 1994, it was every parent's dream to get their case covered on Adam Walsh's America's Most Wanted TV show. For many of these parent's it's a very long wait, often years. The Boss case will be featured on the next show, I imagine the Holly Ann Collins case was not covered.

2. ADVO Direct Mail Cards - You've seen these post cards in your mail, they are sent to 120 million households in the United States. I imagine the Collins children may have appeared on these cards but they were in Europe.

3. FBI - Sometimes it takes months to get the FBI to enter a family abduction case because you must prove the abducting parent left the state or the country. Unfortunately, it's not a top priority and I imagine the Boss case will get more attention then the Collins case did. There are also times when the FBI can put pressure on the local law enforcement of the other country to deport the parent, which has not yet been case with Holly Ann Collins in the Netherlands.

4. Amber System - It's a new system and it helps get the word out quickly in all missing kids cases.

5. Local Law Enforcment - When children are taken internationally, it makes it very difficult for most of these agencies. They just don't have the resources and usually it helps when task forces are formed with the local district attorney's office, FBI and local police department.

6. U.S. State Department - They may be helpful in obtaining information on a passport for an abucted child and for a safety health and welfare check.

7. Private Detectives - If parents have the economic means, they can use private detectives and attorneys to subpoena phone records, credit cards and obtain information from family members and relatives. In the majority of cases the immediate family members have knowledge and somtimes can be pressured legally and through litigation to divulge information. That said, many left-behind parents spend thousands to hundreds of thousands of dolllars on private detectives with limited results.

For Holly Ann Collin's left-behind custoidal and victim parent and for Sandra Boss, it is a parent's worst nighmere to be put in this position. That's why I've keep saying:

"Holly Ann Collins, it's time to Mom Up"

The Editor
The Children of the Underground Newsletter

New Information in the Holly Ann Collins Case

The information on the Holly Ann Collins case below was provided by Tasha. I'm not sure about the accuracy of this information but it pretty much follows the same course as the other underground parental kidnapping cases.

As the custodial-embattled underground mother's case starts to unravel, she begins to enlarge her story as well as the number of alleged abusers. The story may begin with a third party such as a day care center or a school, then move to the former spouse, to the former spouse's new wife, to the entire family. In the Faye Yager supported cases, Faye would often testify to an even enlarged set of very, very horrible events.

There is usually a discussion among the left-behind or victim parent and his or her family such as: does the abducting parent such as Holly Ann Collins really believe it or is she fabricating the story? The answer, I have no idea but in America, if and when Holly Ann Collins goes to trial, a jury and group of professional psychiatrists / mental health professionals will decide.

What is disturbing is that as the allegations get allegedly enlarged by Holly Ann Collins, you have misguided and most likely well-intentioned supporters accepting every bit of information from the parental kidnapper. It's even worse when the underground attorneys like Alan Rosenfeld call the media to publicize their case. In our experience, as that information is proven to be false, then those supporters look very foolish which horribly reflects on the initial tenets of their cause.

Thanks Tasha for the new information.

Lastly, as I've said before, "Holly Ann Collins, it's time to Mom UP", do the right thing and fly back to the United States, leave all of your children with their fathers and take some responsibility for your actions! You are not a heroic protective parent but you are a cowardly, narcissistic parental kidnapper!

The Editor

The Children of the Underground Watch

-- snip -- From Tasha....

1) New Information:

Holly has an x-ray of Zachary's skull which she claims was cracked from the abuse of her ex-husband. She has published this on YouTube. This same x-ray was used in a lawsuit Holly filed against a city in Mass. when Zachary fell and hit his head while playing.

2) To the Editor: To clarify your question;

Husband/Father number 1 - 2 children now ages 26 and 22.
Husband/Father number 2 - 1 child, now age 13.
Husband/Father number 3 - 7 children (2 adopted). She has 4 biological children with this man and claims to have adopted 3 more. According to other sources Holly Ann never married the father of these children. There has been no mention at all if he is joining them in the US. If not, is he just giving his 7 children up and what kind of father does that? Will she now marry him to bring him to the US with her? Who is this father and why has he not come to her defense? Does the Netherlands allow an unwed, non-citizen (the father also isn’t a citizen) with no income and who has FBI warrants for her arrest adopt 3 children?

3) Holly had 2 children with her ex-husband, not 3. This 3rd child wasn’t involved in the domestic abuse, at all, so he couldn’t have come home with bruises. Perhaps you can provide the details regarding this child, as there is no mention of him in any of the sources on the net. Not from Holly Ann, not from her daughter Jennifer and certainly not from any of those who claim to know Holly Ann and the facts “very well”.

4) Regarding the relatives, Holly Ann was and is very close to both her father and her brother Michael, there are some records he recently came to the Netherlands. Your claims regarding her ex-husband being a violent abuser as well as a pedophile (Holly Ann also claims he sexually assaulted the children) go against the unanimous opinion of experts in this field, and these people will continue to be abusive, always. Her ex-husband remarried before Holly left and has, by every account, a stable, happy family life. Now, Jennifer recently claimed in her Blog that Mark’s wife also abused them, yet this was never presented in the custody case. Again, there would be police reports of the abuse that was supposedly well documented as surely Holly or yourself would have immediately filed complaints.

It’s hard to imagine that her ex-husband doesn’t want his children to return “for fear of all that would be exposed” when, as stated above, it’s a travesty of justice because the court knew of all this abuse and as such it’s already been exposed. Perhaps a more logical reason for any reluctance is that Jennifer repeatedly claims her despise for him. If he did not abuse these children, and they continue to believe he did, one can imagine how painful a reunion would be.