Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama have pressured Brazil to obey the international laws

Sean Goldman is closer to being reunited with his father and coming home to New Jersey, but not close enough.

Sean was 4 years old when his mother took him to visit her homeland, Brazil. The mother, however, decided not to return to the family home in Tinton Falls. She remarried in Brazil and later died in childbirth. Sean is now 9 and living with his mother's husband. But that man has no custodial or parental rights over Sean. Those belong to his natural father, David, who has waged a 5-year battle to have his son returned.

David Goldman has enlisted the support of the state's congressional delegation. The House and Senate have passed resolutions demanding Sean's return under the terms of the Hague Convention. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama have pressured Brazil to obey the international laws. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.) introduced a bill to temporarily remove Brazil from a $2.75 billion duty-free trade program.

On June 1, a court ruled Sean was better off living with his father in New Jersey and that his Brazilian relatives were causing him harm through parental alienation. Almost home! But hours later, a political party asked the country's top court to step in and the order was stayed. Brazil's Supreme Court eventually denied the request to overturn the lower court and sent the case to a federal court to decide the boy's fate.

The stepfather's family tried an appalling public relations maneuver this week, releasing a videotaped session with a psychologist in which Sean, surrounded by adults, says he'd be better off living in Brazil. The appeals court should give it no more weight than any other hostage's taped remarks. Under international law, Sean is a kidnap victim.

A decision by Brazil to return Sean to his father could help 2,000 other U.S. children wrongly taken out of the country. Time's awasting.