no one could forget the boy in those pictures. sean goldman, abducted by his mother to brazil. finally handed over to his father david after a five-year international battle. we could only guess what he was feeling. but tonight in an exclusive interview, you'll find out. >> what do you remember about that day? >> getting dragged through streets full of cameramen, a lot of people pushing. >> sean, finally opening up about his years living on another continent thousands of miles away from home. >> my mom married another person and she said this is your dad. >> never knowing how hard his father was fighting to get him back. >> since you didn't know your

dad had been there, were you angry that why doesn't he want to see me? >> reunited at last. but after so many years apart, can this father and son find their way forward? >> he did have his guard up. >> and after all he's been through, what this boy says he knows for sure. >> do you feel that deeply in your heart? >> yeah. >> what so many have waited so long to hear. sean's story. welcome, everyone. i'm lester holt. it was one of the most remarkable stories we've ever told on "dateline." the five-year battle waged by david goldman to bring his abducted son sean home from brazil. tonight sean takes us through the story as only he can. moment by moment, remarkably open about what so many wanted to know. his long journey from brazil, his life here at home, and whether he ever lost faith in his father.

here's meredith vieira. >> like any 11-year-old boy, he can be antsy. >> is this going to take a long time? >> the prospect of sitting still for a television interview isn't exactly appealing. >> five pages of questions? >> no, no. we're not going to -- no. you're too smart. >> but behind sean goldman's smile and the discomfort for preteen boys, it's immediately obvious there's something different about this sixth grader. >> you're doing well in school on the honor roll? >> yes. >> your dad said you had difficulty with math but you mastered it? >> yeah. >> that must have felt good to have a challenge and get through it. >> yeah. that's life. getting through challenges. >> now, is that something you would have said if your life were different? >> well, maybe. >> because that's a very grownup thing to say that life is about challenges. do you go back in your head and go you know what?

i've had some bigger challenges in my life and i've managed. >> yeah. >> the challenges faced by this young new jersey boy are staggering. he was at the center of a case that sparked such an international fire storm, it reached both the levels of the u.s. and the brazilian government. he was abducted to brazil by his mother and cut off from hi father with no explanation why. when he was eight, his mom died. but even then his brazilian family tried to keep him there. never telling him his distraught dad had been fighting to bring him home. >> nobody told you? >> "dateline" chronicled his father's struggle traveling with him to brazil trying to get his son back watching as the bitter legal wrangling took its toll. >> i'm so tired. mentally, physically. why won't they just let me go home with him? >> through all the desperation

and heart ache, his dad refused to give up. >> i won't ever quit on my son. >> never? >> never. how can you? >> but sean had no idea how hard his dad was fighting. and sean looked bewildered and terrified when he was handed over. >> you're a little boy. >> nine years old. >> on the plane ride home to the u.s., david goldman gazed in disbelief at the son he'd been separated from for five and a half years. but quietly, he worried. the troubling question that hovered in everyone's mind was how could a 9-year-old possibly overcome so much trauma? >> what was going through your head in terms of this little boy that you're about to take home? >> i hope he doesn't have life-long nightmares of that day. >> that was two years ago. since then, as father and son have tried to heal, david has

guarded. we've seen smiles and heard from his dad he's doing okay. until tonight, we haven't heard from sean himself. >> i'm sure this has not been easy for you the past couple years. >> not at all. >> now in his first interview, the boy caught in the cross hairs of all the controversy opens up talking earnestly about his confusing ordeal. >> no kid has to go through what i went through. >> should have to go through. >> do you think it made you a different kind of person? >> well, maybe. i don't know. >> tonight you'll hear from both sean and his dad about the painful repercussions of being estranged for so long. >> nice. he was at the point where if this continued he wouldn't even recognize me as his dad. >> and as his brazilian relatives continue to fight for his return to brazil, you'll find out how sean is coping with the drama. >> there are times he says why does this happen? why do they do this to me?

why? >> for sean, memories begin with a blissful childhood in this house in new jersey. >> do you have any strong memories of the house you lived in or any of that? >> i just remember my dad pushing me on the swing set and overlooking the great view of the back yard. >> sean, who was born on may 25th, 2000, was david goldman and bruna bianchi's first. and they made a picture perfect family. >> all three of them were beautiful. it looked like a fairy tale. >> david who'd been an international model, so loved being a dad he stopped traveling in order to spend more time at home with sean. >> what did you guys do together? >> what didn't we do together? we did everything. everything a father and son could do and then some. >> the pair forged a tight bond and david affectionately dubbed

his son his little buddy. sean still vividly remembers their adventures canoeing on the river behind the house. >> i remember going on a dinosaur trail. that's what we would call it. it's this little path. you know cat tails? it looks like cat tails but it's not. and it's this trail of water that goes in between it. and we used to call it the dinosaur trail. and i remember we got lost in it and this bluebird kind of led us out of the trail. >> you remember that, you had to be three or four. >> i know. it's weird. >> you were a happy kid? >> yes. >> and you have good memories of that. >> yes. >> but a few weeks after his fourth birthday, everything in sean's happy little world would be turned completely upside down. coming up, sean's mom abducts him to brazil. ripped away from his father and then for this boy another shock.

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sean goldman's life forever. june 16, 2004. sean and his mom bruna were headed to rio di je nar row, brazil for what was supposed to be a four-day vacation. and he was all smiles as he kissed them good-bye. >> love, hug, kisses. we did the thing i love you as we always did as they were walking through the jetway. >> neither sean nor his dad could possibly have known then that years would pass before they'd ever see each other again.

when bruna arrived in brazil, her native country, she called with devastating news. >> our marriage is over. our love affair is over. i decided to be -- stay in brazil. so clear, she said this. so unemotional. >> never gave you a reason. >> it was over. our love affair is over. >> david demanded that his wife return with sean immediately, but she refused. just like that his little boy had been taken away. and david says bruna not only wanted full custody of their son in brazil, she threatened if he didn't comply, things would get ugly. >> if i go to the police or courts, i won't come home and you'll never see him again. >> bruna was guilty of parental child abduction. but sean didn't understand any of that. all he knew was he was in brazil and his dad wasn't. and on the few occasions when bruna let him get on the phone with his dad, his little voice seemed to say it all.

>> hi, dada. >> hi, sean. when you come back, i'm going to give you the biggest hug and kiss and put you up on my shoulders. and we're best friends forever. my heart beats for you. >> dada? >> yeah. >> i love you forever. >> i love you forever, buddy. we're best friends. who's your best friend? >> you. >> did you understand what was going on during that period at all? >> no. from what i remember, i was confused. >> in what way? >> like, what's going on? where's my dad? >> things quickly spiraled out of david's control. first bruna cut david off with any contact from sean. then she blatantly ignored a new jersey court order to return him to the u.s. david appealed for help under an international treaty known as the haug convention. which requires countries with it to return children to their home

country. but that never happened. instead, a brazilian court gave bruna permanent custody of sean. it was the first of many legal setbacks in a case so full of shocking twists that as "dateline" documented it over the years, we saw it wear a father down to the brink of an emotional collapse. >> why would they do this to us for this long? why did they do that to him? >> two years after kidnapping sean, bruna got a brazilian court to give her a divorce even though she was still legally married in the u.s. she was erasing david from her life. and sean who was then six years old never even knew his dad had made repeated trips to brazil trying to visit him. >> you had no idea that he had been in brazil? >> no. no idea. >> nobody told you. >> even the gifts david tried to send his son were returned unopened. >> did you have any idea, then, that all of this stuff was going on?

>> no. >> were you angry? since you didn't know your dad had been there, were you angry like why didn't he want to see me? >> i wasn't angry, but i was confused. because where's my dad? >> did you ask your mom about it or your grandparents about it? >> no. >> why wouldn't you do that? >> because i would just get sad again. >> why did you think you'd get sad? >> because they would just probably say, i don't know. >> you were kind of scared to ask maybe? afraid of what the answer might be. >> yeah. >> it must have hurt you, then, to be that confused and not know what was going on. >> yeah. but i didn't want to be, like, a loner. so i had to tuck the feelings away and try to live with -- >> with the situation that you had? >> yeah. >> is that what you did? tucked the feelings away? >> yeah. >> so at the tender age of six,

sean goldman learned to suppress his feelings. he didn't want to be different. he didn't want to make waves. still he always knew something was wrong. especially in 2007 when his mom married a brazilian lawyer named joao paulo lins e silva. >> my mom married another person and she said this is your dad. i mean, i knew it wasn't my dad -- >> but you just went along with it? >> yeah. because i didn't want to make anybody mad. >> quietly sean tried to settle into his new life in brazil where his mom owned a successful clothing store and his grandma owned a popular restaurant. bruna's new husband was a lawyer at a firm specializing in family law. sean sustained a school for upper class children. and on weekends they went to luxurious beach resorts where sean loved to swim and surf.

>> did you start to forget your dad at all in that period? >> no. >> never? >> never. >> even though you weren't talking to him. >> i mean, it's a big part of your life if you're a child. you want your dad. you have to remember your dad. >> i think b a lot of people think if a 4-year-old boy was suddenly removed from home and in a new place that you would start to forget because you're just, you're still a little guy. you're saying it doesn't matter. the feelings are there. they're deep. >> yeah. >> then when sean was eight, things took a tragic turn. on august 22nd, 2008, just hours after giving birth to a baby girl, his mom died. she was only 34. when david found out, he rushed down to brazil. >> my poor son. he just lost his mom. i need to see him. he needs to see me. >> because david was now sean's only living biological participant, his attorneys were

certain he would be able to bring him home to new jersey. but when he got to brazil, david was in for a shock. bruna's new husband had filed for custody of sean. livid, david made a public plea for help. >> how could it be possible a non-blood person could take my child? who could help me? who can help? >> his plea would prompt a rapid ground swell of support. his story infuriating parents and politicians alike. but for sean, the young boy at the center of it all, it was just an overwhelming swirl of turmoil and painful confusion. >> did you want to leave? >> i had mixed feelings. coming up, the child in the eye of the media storm. >> what do you remember about that day? >> and then why his father says the boy who came home was not the boy who left.

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for four and a half long years, david goldman was a dejected figure of loneliness. canoeing behind the house, his son's empty seat a reminder of what had been happier times. he kept his son's bedroom frozen in time. his little things all exactly the way he'd left them. sean was now eight years old living nearly 5,000 miles away on another continent. >> you were living in many ways a nice life. you had a nice apartment, beautiful weather, friends. >> i didn't have my dad. >> after his mom's sudden death, sean didn't have either of his parents. which made david more desperate than ever to get his little boy

home. but in february of 2009, when a brazilian judge finally agreed he could at least visit his son, david was suddenly filled with anxiety. sean had been told someone else was his dad. after all those years, would he even recognize david? would he be angry? >> i don't know. i hope for the best but i expect the worst. >> they met inside negated compound where sean lived with his brazilian grandparents, bruna's husband and the girl she gave birth to before she died. >> i ran and picked him up. hugged him. told him i love him, i miss him. >> incredibly, even though sean hadn't seen his dad since he was four years old, as they played together in the pool, it was as if no time passed at all. >> i love you, buddy. i love you so much.

>> for sean, it was overwhelming. all his feelings for his dad, the feelings he'd long since learned to tuck away, came rushing to the surface. >> they came back out when i met him again. >> the minute you saw him. and what were those feelings that you'd been tucking away? >> like joy. joy, like just met him, joy. and i was happy, really happy. >> but along with joy, david saw pain and confuse on his son's face. >> and he asked me how come i haven't been to see him in four years. so i said that the courts were making things very difficult. >> there would be several visits over the next few months, but that didn't mean david was any closer to bringing sean home. his brazilian relatives argued that after four and a half years in brazil, sean should stay where he was. they said he was close to his

grandmother silvana and deserved to grow up with his half sister. they also said his mom's new husband had become just as much of a dad to sean as david. "dateline" was with david when that claim brought david to a boiling point. >> sean is my son. he's got my blood running through his veins. >> then just after sean's ninth birthday, three brazilian psychologists weighed in saying it's urgent that sean be returned to his dad because he was a victim of parental alienation alienation. meaning the brainwashing of a child against his own parent. >> i think it's terrible. i think it's sinful the amount of pressure they're putting on my son. that's incomprehensible. how cruel. how cruel. >> and as pressure mounted on brazil to comply with a treaty that obligates it to return children to their home country, even president obama weighed in.

>> we want folks to abide by international law. >> but still sean's brazilian grandparents refused to back down. and the courts bake more contentious. >> i'm on my knees begging for my son to come home. >> the case became a game of international suspense. the whole world anxiously watching to find out if sean goldman would stay in brazil or go back to new jersey. until finally just before christmas of 2009, david and his lawyers got good news. an ironclad ruling that sean must go home immediately. the hand over take place on christmas eve. by then, tensions had reached an almost hysterical state. sean's upset grandparents approached the consulate on foot. his mom's husband with his arm wrapped around sean.

there was no missing sean goldman. in the frenzied crush of cameras with people screaming, horns honking, helicopters circling, and police on guard, he was overwhelming. >> do you remember much about that last day? it was a tough thing to watch. you're a little boy. >> nine years old. >> what do you remember about that day? >> getting dragged through streets full of cameramen and a lot of people pushing. and hearing a lot of yelling and people calling my name. i just wanted to shoot through everybody. >> he was also confused and conflicted. >> did you want to leave? >> i had mixed feelings. >> yeah. what were the feelings? on either side? >> i don't really remember. but i remember going into the plane and my dad was looking around and waving and i just wanted to hurry up because i wanted to get in the plane. just come back to america. >> you just wanted it to be over?

>> yeah. >> father and son were heading home together on a private plane chartered by nbc. it looked like a storybook ending. but after all the turmoil and so many lost years, would it even be possible to recover? coming up, something ordinary for any other family. for the goldmans, extraordinary. >> he remembers to the moment when you called him dad. what was it in that moment that made you say dad? >> but still adjusting would take time. >> he did have his guard up when he came home. >> in what way? >> when sean's story continues. and we are talking about activia. i've been eatingand i feel great! i'm used to having irregularity. i feel like that's normal. if you are not feeling like trying this on, that's not normal. activia helps with occasional irregularity when eaten 3 times a day. feeling regular to me was a new feeling...

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goldman walked back into a house he hadn't seen since he was four years old. his house. >> this was the guest room. >> when you walked back into your house, did you recognize it right away? >> yeah. i recognized the couch and the carpet. >> how about the cat? >> definitely the cat. >> he's so happy to see you. >> even as everything came rushing back to sean, his dad sensed a distance in his 9-year-old son. >> he did have his guard up when he came home. >> in what way? >> how did he know that he was going to be with me again for a month and all of a sudden get ripped back over there. >> was there a significant moment you can say there was a breakthrough. >> to me, when he said dad. >> it didn't happen right away. david was more than willing to wait. but when the moment did come, "dateline" was there filming as sean and his cousins played outside. >> dad, come here! >> what'd you say?

>> come here, dad. >> i heard him. did you hear him? >> inside you must have been doing cart wheels. >> they were precious words coming out of a precious little boy. >> he remembers to the moment when you came back when you called him dad and what that meant to him. do you remember saying it, sean? >> yeah. >> what was it in that moment that made you say dad? >> i don't know. it was just memories and a lot of memories. all the memories that were still in the bottom of my brain, they all just sprouted out. >> still, calling him dad was one thing. but adjusting to a new life with david would be a far more difficult step. >> could you see the conflict in him when he first came back to new jersey between the family he left in brazil and this man he hadn't seen in five years? >> yeah. when he first came home, it was all new and he missed his mom. everything was stirring back up in him again.

>> sean turns 12 next month, but even now the memory of his mom is so painfully sad, that most of the time it's one of those things he'd much rather tuck away. >> do you talk to dad about your mom at all? >> well, sometimes i get sad because every kid who has a parent who has passed gets sad once in awhile but has to try to live with it. >> occasionally he'll say my mom liked that song. and occasionally i'll say your mom used to love that restaurant. or we used to go here with your mom. >> so it doesn't concern you that he isn't more emotional about her? >> no, it doesn't. i'm sure he does think about her. he has a lot of sadness in his past. he knows it's there. he doesn't escape from it. he doesn't hide from it, but why would he want to keep dwelling on things like that? >> for sean, there have been plenty of other things to focus

on as he tries to readjust to life in new jersey. >> how about english? because i know when you came here you did speak english but you weren't speaking it in brazil. was it hard in your own head -- >> not really. i mean, since i learned english first, it was early to come back to. because i already knew basic words. >> so what's been the biggest challenge over the last couple years for you? >> getting fit really. because i was out of shape. i lost 30, maybe 40 pounds. >> in the past two years you have? >> yeah. >> wow. because you got tall. >> and, like, yeah. >> were you just not -- in brazil were you just not exercising? you were a little boy then. >> yeah. i still had, like, you know, baby face then stuff. >> so the biggest challenge for you was getting fit? >> and math. >> still, sean and david have

been seeing a therapist ever since he came home. well aware that his son could be prone to separation anxiety, david is trying to nip any trust issues in the bud. >> last summer we did a little experiment where i went away and he stayed with grandma. >> your mom. >> my mom and dad. and about the third or fourth night, he woke up with terrible nightmares that he was being chased in brazil and they were coming to get him. and grandma ran right there and she hugged him and said no, your dad did everything that you're going to be together. but it was a test that he needed to see. because i didn't want him to grow up with separation or attachment disorders and anxieties. >> dad has been open about the fact you've had therapy. do you think that's a helpful thing? >> yeah. every kid has trouble sometimes. >> you almost make this look easy and i'm sure it hasn't been, the past couple years.

>> not at all. well, the past couple years, kind of, because my dad has been very helpful. but the five years weren't really easy. >> what's the difference? tell me what made the five years hard versus now. >> now i have a guide. >> a guide? >> my dad. he's a guide. and i don't know how to explain it. it's just this bond. that's why here it's easier because i have my dad. >> but even as he leans on his dad and they work on rebuilding their special bond, there's the pain of knowing his family in brazil is still fighting for him. >> i just kind of try to push it away. coming up, father and son still looking over their shoulders. >> there were some people that would come and sort of stalk us. >> and then how sean feels about his brazilian family today. >> does he ever say i would love to go visit? >> when "dateline" continues. about to explore. the world of new friskies plus.

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son has already experienced, his dad worried about the repercussions of another change. when they moved out of their house this month. the only home sean had ever known in new jersey. >> hard to leave the old house or okay? >> kind of hard because it's -- you know, i like it. >> it also meant switching schools hadin the middle of the year. >> he said dad, i just don't want to start again. that hurt me. he went to the first day and he loved it. >> now, after all that you've gone through, was that tough for you? >> no. because people are really friendly now. it's easy to change. >> maybe because you've experienced big change in your life, maybe this wasn't -- >> yeah. it's easier because of the events that happened in my life. it's easier to have transactions

or transitions like that. >> because you've gone through bigger ones than just a school change. >> if it's a testament to sean's resilience, it's also a reminder that the past is in no means behind this father and son. part of the reason they moved is because after all the media coverage of david's long fight to get sean home, they no longer had any privacy. >> when we came home, the media was up and down our block. along with the media there were a lot of people watching these shows that found out where we lived as well. >> sometimes david says sean's brazilian relatives even sent people to check up on sean. >> bruna's brother sent some people who were nice people. but they would knock on the door and give a report back. we don't need that. and there were some other people that i had no idea who they were would come and sort of stalk us. the police had to come. that was uncomfortable. >> both sean's brazilian grandmother silvana ribeiro and

joao paulo lins e silva, the man bruna married before she died are appealing the decision to send sean home to new jersey. and silvana is appealing the request to visit sean. calling their actions to keep him away from their dad con ton shs. >> when was the last time that sean saw his grandmother? >> in brazil. the last time he saw her was in brazil. >> why won't you let her see him? >> who ever said i won't let her see him? >> she said that you're not allowing her to see him. >> she can come and see him whenever she wants. pending a couple of safeguards that i would be an idiot to not keep up. because if it was up to her, i

would never see my son again and he'd still be in brazil. she needs to stop the litigation. stop it. and then she needs to go to the therapy here, child therapist, and discuss and heed his advice on how she needs to behave. >> what about people who might say to you, you know, you wanted to see your son in brazil and you had lawsuits going left and right to try to reclaim him and they let you see him. >> what would did you just say? your son. first of all, sean's not her son. second of all, she flagrantly thumbed her nose at international law for several years. so they didn't let me do anything. they were ordered by a federal court. >> sean's brazilian grandfather died last year and his grandmother says that makes it more tragic that sean has not been permitted to have contact with his remaining relatives in brazil. her lawyer told "dateline" she

is willing to end letitigation if she can visit her grandson. >> does he ever say he wants to vid his grandmother in is. >> no. >> if he was to say i know this is happening but i want to see my grandmother. i want to go see my grandmother. >> i'd say let's call her up and let's work out something. it wouldn't be in brazil. we don't know what will happen again. >> do you encourage him to call? >> oh, yeah. over the holidays, several times i said we should call. he doesn't want to. and i don't know how far i should push him. >> when you think back to brazil now, sean, what do you think? >> i think maybe some day i'll visit, but i want to get older before i go back or anything like that. >> why do you say that? >> because i can probably handle more. like handle more feelings. >> you think it'd be hard to

handle the feelings at this point? >> yeah. >> because? >> i'm still 11 years old. maybe 16 or 18 and then maybe i'll try to, but i just -- i don't want to ruin -- like, i don't want to get sad again. because of course there's people who care about me there, but there's people here that care about me. but here is where i'm supposed to live. and i want to stay like this. >> and you feel that deeply in your heart that this is where you're supposed to be? >> yeah. >> do you think about your grandmother? >> not really. because i would just get sad. and no one really likes getting sad. >> it's an honest answer from a boy who's had to be so brave as he's tried to heal from all the sadness and confusion in his life. coming up, sean faces a fresh change at home.

and then sean speaks directly to other abducted children. >> if you could talk to these kids what would you say to them. and coming up sunday on "dateline," an all new my kid would never do that. these kids think they're trying out for a new pop culture quiz show. they have no idea we're the ones testing them. to see if they'll cheat. >> does anybody know who that is? >> would your child give into temptation? and what happens when these kids piano chords ] [ man announcing ] what we created here. what we achieved here. what we learned here.

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[ dog ] i am an iams dog for life. when david and sean goldman moved this month, they both knew there was something they couldn't leave behind. sean never forgot hunting with dinosaurs with his dad.

>> did you take the canoe with you? >> yeah. it's in our back yard. >> that canoe means a lot to you. >> yeah. >> does that mean sean and dad sharing things? >> it means happy. whenever i'm in the canoe i'm happy. because i'm with my dad. >> in a way it's a natural thing to say about a parent. equating happiness about simply being together. yet for david goldman it means so much more. >> for me it was a dream for so long. and to have it as a reality is -- it's excellent. it's beautiful. >> we sat down a lot of times over the past few years, you and i, and many interviews have been emotional. at times you've been despondent. >> desperate.

>> how is today no longer desperate? >> i see my son's who's happy and healthy and playing. >> for sean the changes continue. his dad is now engaged to be married. when father and son moved to their new house, david's fiance wendy and her sons came with them. >> it's kind of just like a typical brady bunch, a mini brady bunch type of family. everybody gets along. >> jesse doesn't think sean will have trouble adjusting. he first remembers when sean came home from brazil. >> it took him kind of awhile to just adjust to everyone and fit in and stuff. >> but now he says sean is just like any other kid on the block. >> we're always hanging out playing video games, watching tv, playing basketball. >> now he's a normal kid and he persevered in his own way.

>> and whatever they're doing, whether it's shooting hoops or trying to trounce each other in a video game -- >> i got 500 points. >> -- the bond between this father and dad is more solid than ever. >> he's not only a dad. he knows how to play. >> he's like a play mate in some ways? >> some ways, yeah. >> so have you had to describe your relationship with dad, it's dad, buddy, a combination. >> yeah. he's super dad. >> i can be a kid again, too, with my son. and it's really special. you know? we can't get back what we lost. and we can't try to get back the impossible because he'll never be four and a half, five, six through eight. but we do have now. we're best buddies. we're great together. >> is he your best buddy? >> yeah. >> recently the two best buddies appeared on bass the bill fish.

>> it was really fun. they flew us down to florida and i caught a giant bare cue da. >> so you got this fish gene from your dad? >> yeah. it's really fun. if people ask me what i want to be when i grow up i'll say i don't know but i have to be a part-time fisherman. >> when you call your dad a super dad do you say that because of how hard he fought to get you home? >> for a lot of reasons. he was my mom and dad at times. >> fought a lot to get you home. >> i heard. >> when you heard that, because i guess that's something you didn't realize until after you came back here, that he fought for you and other people fought for you. a lot of people knew your story, sean. what does that make you feel when you hear that? >> grateful. >> why do you use that word, grateful? >> because it's grateful that

people take time out of their day to help me. it's incredible. >> sean's dad is still fighting, but now it's for the thousands of u.s. parents whose children have been abducted to other countries. according to the u.s. state department, between 2008 and 2010, parents reported more than 3,000 abduction cases involving some 4700 children. >> these cases break my heart because i know what it's like to suffer every second of every day longing to be with your own child. >> david's new role as an activist includes speaking engagements. >> and i can never accept this gift of sean and i being reunited without giving back. >> he also appears frequently on capitol hill. this month chris smith named a bill in honor of sean and david. it would sanction countries who harbor children abducted by a

parent. >> this bill will become law. it's a matter of when and not if. >> the website that was once devoted to bringing sean home is now devoted to bringing other children home. and david hopes his book "a father's love" will also draw attention to the book. it's something sean has become every bit as passionate about as his dad. >> i would prefer if people or kids who are kidnapped to other countries by their other parents should come home. and it wouldn't have to be what happened to me. >> if what could talk to these kids, what would you say to them? >> hang in there. hopefully we'll get you home. >> you really think that is possible? >> everything's possible. >> but for now sean goldman is

happy just being a new jersey kid and mostly spending time with his best buddy. >> and your idea of a perfect day, sean goldman, would be what? perfect day. >> well, in the middle of the summer, not one cloud in the sky. really blue. and go out fishing with my dad. >> but it would include your dad? >> with my dad. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline" friday. we'll be back again for "dateline" sunday at 7:00, 6:00 central. i'll see you tomorrow on "today." i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, good night. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> good evening, everyone. i am rod daniels. >> new developments in