A federal judge will decide whether to send a 6-year old boy back to Italy with his father. The boy’s father admitted to court that he had abused the boy’s mother, who is now deceased.
After a long and contentious legal battle, the decision will be made about whether or not the son, son of Narkis Golan, can live in Brooklyn with his mother, or return to Milan, his birthplace, to live with Isacco Jacky Saada. Golan’s Family has claimed that the boy returned from his recent visits with father with bruises as well as other allegations included in recent court documents. Saada has denied causing the boy distress or bruising.
The case reached the Supreme Court before Golan died in October . The justices unanimously sided in her favor, making it easier for judges in lower courts to deny a request to return a child to a place where there is a “grave danger of harm.” Since the case was brought in 2018, Donnelly ordered the boy to return to Italy on three occasions. Golan’s attorneys successfully appealed each of these orders.
According to public docket, Donnelly ordered a childhood autistic specialist to assess the boy’s condition before issuing her ruling. When she will make her decision is not known.
Domestic violence advocates and experts who have closely followed this case claim that it provides a glimpse into the reality of mothers who leave abusive partners and their children to flee for another country. They are then accused of kidnapping based on the clauses concerning child abduction in the Hague Convention. This international treaty has been adopted by over 100 countries and since its proposal back in 1980. In 2015, when data was available, 73% of Hague cases involved mothers who had taken their children abroad. Experts estimate that, while there are no official statistics, the majority of these cases involve mothers fleeing domestic abuse.
The treaty’s clauses on child abduction are a bit confusing. Lynn Hecht-Schafran, Senior Vice President at Legal Momentum’s women’s legal defence organization, says that the whole thing is not written in a way to understand mothers who flee their home countries for the sake of protecting their children from abuse, both physical and mental, and even sexual.
Golan and her son fled Italy for the U.S. in 2018 after Saada verbally and physically abused them and threatened to kill them. Most of this abuse took place in front of their son, according to court documents and The Supreme Court’s opinion on Golan v. Saada. Saada then asked a court for the return of the son under the Hague child abduction clauses. This set off a long-running legal battle. Golan also claimed in court that Saada had sexually assaulted the woman, but he denied it.
Golan’s family raised questions about the circumstances of her death. However, both the NYPD and Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office investigated. They found no evidence that criminality or foul play was involved. Golan’s family questioned the circumstances surrounding her death. However, both the NYPD as well as the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office conducted an investigation and found no evidence of criminality or foul play.
Emails and phone calls to lawyers representing Golan, the boy and Saada were not answered.
Allegations involving bruising and swearingMorin, Narkis Golan’s sister, has now been given primary custody. Lawyers for Golan’s parents have filed court documents stating that after two recent trips to see his father, the boy had returned to his aunt with bruises.
The filing says that after a supervised February visit, the boy came home with “two blue-and-black eyes,” which his supervisor claimed he had acquired by accidentally hitting his knee against his face while jumping on his bed. After his first unsupervised father’s visit in April, the child returned home with bruises “shaped like three fingers” on his arm and leg. The supervisor said that the bruises were caused by him accidentally hitting his knee into his face while jumping on the bed.
Saada, who lives in Italy, returns to New York at weekends with his son for overnight unsupervised visits.
Morin Golan stated that when she asked about the bruises on her nephew, “he didn’t remember or doesn’t know how they got there”, the filing states. It also adds that autism and trauma disorders make him “often not communicative” and “unable to advocate for himself.”
The filing says: “It’s not clear to Ms. Golan whether the bruises were caused by an innocent incident, or a failure of properly supervising [the boy], if they aren’t something more serious.”
Saada’s lawyers claim in a response that Saada’s father “is unaware of any recent bruises and denies having cause any bruising [to the boy]”. They also repeat the supervisor’s claim that the boy’s first bruise was caused by him jumping on the mattress.
In the filing, Morin Golan’s lawyers allege that the boy has told them that he “is not allowed to speak about his mom” when he visits his father. He also says that he “is afraid to bring a toy that plays a recorded voice of his mom” to his visits for fear that he might get into trouble. Saada is also accused of telling his son that his mother had hit him as a child and thrown him to the ground. He has also been accused of making disparaging remarks about Morin Golan’s family and calling them a “garbage” family.
Saada’s lawyers, in their filing, deny the boy’s right to talk about his mother. They also add that they “frequently have conversations about the boy missing her” and deny he has to bring the stuffed toy. The lawyers claim that Saada was “surprised” when the boy told his father that his mother had been abusive towards him. Lawyers said Saada had denied disparaging remarks against the Golan family, and that “he told [his son] he could keep in contact with whoever he wanted if he went back to Italy.”
The lawyers for Morin Golan also claim that Saada used “inappropriate, vulgar and offensive terms” in video calls. They say the boy has never used these terms before. The lawyers also claim that the boy becomes “defiant and aggressive” after visits with Saada. They say this “reflects a trend of deterioration”, following prolonged visits with his dad. According to Golan’s attorneys, the father allegedly told the boy’s trauma therapist the boy “doesn’t have any mental concerns and disputes any need for therapy.”
Saada’s lawyers responded by admitting that Saada “may have used inappropriate language” around his son. However, they said that Saada has told the boy to refrain from using foul words, which he finds funny as a child. They also stated that English was not Saada’s first language. He “understood, perhaps mistakenly, from the trauma therapist, that [his son] did no longer need her services.”
Experts believe that the fact that Judge Donnelly, who was previously the Family Violence and Child Abuse Bureau of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, could still order the child sent back to Italy reflects a larger problem in how many judges do not take into consideration a history of domestic violence or the threat of it when deciding on such cases.
It is hard to believe that a judge would return a child after all the events, including his mother’s death and reports of visitation, said Merle Wineer, a professor of law at the University of Oregon School of Law, who is well-known as an expert in the Hague Convention child abduction provisions.
NBC News did not receive a response from Donnelly.
A future uncertain in Italy
According to a letter filed by Italian judge Daniela Bacchetta last month, if the boy is sent to Italy, the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Milan Juvenile Court will decide his final destination.
Laura Serra is a Rome-based family lawyer who specializes on family law. In an opinion written for Morin Golan by Laura Serra she wrote that if Donnelly sent the boy to Italy there was a “very strong likelihood” he’d be placed in a home where he might stay for many years as Italian authorities investigated the family members who may take custody of him including his father. Serra stated that the placement of a child in a group home would be “particularly risky” due to his autism, trauma and inability speak Italian. According to Serra, it would take him at least six months to receive an Italian autism certificate, which would be required to access educational assistance.
In a legal opinion written on Saada’s behalf by Romualdo and Zanetti Richichi, Milan-based lawyers with a specialization in family law who are based in Milan, they said that Serra’s opinion, that the boy was very likely to be placed in a group care home, is “completely unfounded” as foster care is Italy’s “last resource.” The lawyers also claim that the father is not a risk to Saada “because no direct violence was ever alleged against him.”
Donnelly made a similar case in the past. She wrote: “As i have previously explained at length, [the boy’s] grave risk of harm comes from a singular source — the violent relationship between his parents,” as she stated in her memorandum when she sent him back to Italy for the third time, last August.
The Hague experts Schafran and Weiner say that these arguments are based on a misunderstanding of the relationship between intimate partner abuse and child maltreatment. experts claim that children who are raised in homes with intimate partner violence also suffer abuse. While Donnelly wrote that there is “no significant evidence” that Mr. Saada intentionally abused his son, has shown that watching domestic violence can negatively impact a child’s brain structure and development.
Schafran stated that it was shocking that someone as experienced in the courtroom as this judge would claim that violence will cease once these parents separate.
Reform calls are growing
Golan, who died in 2013, was part of an increasing movement of experts and advocates calling for changes in the way that child abduction provisions of the Hague Convention are implemented to better protect women fleeing domestic abuse and their children.
In a report from April, Reem Alalem, United Nations Special Rapporteur for violence against women, and girls, recommended that the treaty be “revised to better protect abused woman and their children, by allowing stronger defenses against return when there is domestic and family violence.” She also said that judges who decide on these cases “should be required to take family and domestic abuse into account” in their decision.
The U.S. implements the treaty through the International Child Abduction Remedies Act and as per the State Department. Ileana Rosa-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and others drafted a bill in 2014 to amend legislation. The goal was to have judges recognize the risk of domestic abuse a child might face if they were ordered to return home. They also wanted judges to receive training about the impact domestic violence has on families and kids. Weiner, NBC News’ source, said that the bill was never introduced to Congress because of a lack interest from legislators. Ros-Lehtinen refused to comment.
Since then, there have been efforts to bring about change at the state-level. Florida Gov. NBC Miami reported that Ron DeSantis has signed into law a measure requiring family courts to take threats against former partners or spouses into account when making decisions about child custody and visitation. The law was named after Greyson Kessler. He is a Florida 4-year-old boy who died in 2021 in Fort Lauderdale in a murder-suicide by his father, according to the local station.
Experts say that such efforts are not enough.
Schafran explained that “when you have a law and an international agreement that don’t match how things are actually playing out, you get into trouble.”
You can also visit www.thehotline.org to access anonymous and confidential online chats in English or Spanish. Many states also have their own hotlines for domestic violence.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline receives calls from people who have experienced domestic violence, as well as those who may be abusive towards their partners.
