A custody case that has captivated and divided Israeli opinion for months was decided Thursday in favor of the Brazilian natural parents of a child adopted two years ago by an Israeli couple.
Justice Menahem Elon, deputy president of the Supreme Court, ordered Yaacov and Simcha Turgeman of Lod to give up their adoptive 2 year-old daughter, Caroline, to her mother, Rosilda Goncales, who calls her Brona. The couple was given one month to comply with the order.
Justice Elon acknowledged their grief and urged them to “show generosity” and facilitate the smooth transfer of the child which, the court held, would ultimately be in her best interests.
The court appointed a government psychologist to help the Turgemans cope with giving up the child they had reared from infancy.
The case went to the Supreme Court last month after cell tissue tests conducted by Hadassah Hospital indicated with “99.9 percent certainty” that Rosilda Goncales was the child’s mother and her common law-husband, Luis Americo Vasconsalos, the father.
Goncales came to Israel earlier in the year with the assistance of the Brazilian authorities and a British television station, which had been investigating an adoption ring specializing in babies from Brazil. The father was brought to Israel later for the tissue tests.
Goncales claimed that her child was kidnapped to Paraguay and sold to the childless Israeli couple who were unaware of the circumstances.
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