Janet listened.
When I finished, she was quiet for a moment in the specific way of someone who is not just being polite but is actually thinking.
"Can I ask," she said, "what the other party's current position is? The father."
"Unknown," I said. "We've had no direct communication."
"And the child is in his custody."
"Yes. In Chicago."
"Illinois," she said, which was the relevant fact—the original relinquishment had been filed in Illinois, which complicated the jurisdiction process because some things were allowed in some cities but not in others.
"Yes," I said.
"That's a wrinkle," she said, with the honest directness I'd been hoping for. "Not an insurmountable one. But jurisdiction adds steps. You'd likely need to establish whether the matter is taken up in Illinois, where the orig
