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Family Reunited with Young Abducted Son
Legal Aid's Family Law and Immigration Law Projects Step In
Brazilian born Sonia Oliveira came to Legal Aid after her physically abusive husband abducted her three year old son Matheus and fled to Brazil. Though she wanted to fly to Rio de Janeiro and try to take her son back, Oliveira was in the United States on an expired visa and knew she wouldn't be able to come back into the country. This would have complicated the life of her older son, Gabriel, who as a sixth grader had been educated solely in the U.S. and would be unprepared for a life in Brazil.
Enter Ross Baer, supervising attorney of Legal Aid's family law section and attorney J. Samantha Vacciana, who runs our program for immigrant victims of domestic violence. Relying on the Hague Convention, a treaty that requires participating countries to return children who are abducted from other partner nations, Ross was able to negotiate with Brazilian authorities for the return of young Matheus. With the help of a hand writing expert, Ross was able to convince the authorities that passport documents requiring the signature of Matheus' mother had been forged and the child had entered their country improperly.
Samantha was able to use the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, passed by Congress in 2000 to protect victims or witnesses to violent crimes from deportation, as well as the 1994 Violence against Women Act to secure Sonia Oliveira's status here in the U.S.
Though it took a painful nine months and the hard work of lawyers, police officials and charitable organizations all working together, young Matheus was eventually re-united with his mother and older brother. The family now happily and peacefully resides in Boca Raton.
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