Bizarre Custody Case in Chicago

[Mowry]

A friend is involved in a terrible, and unusual, custody dispute with his wife.  When they met, she had just gotten divorced and had a daughter from her first marriage.  She was also in the process of adopting a second child (from a woman who was in her late second trimester).  They had a whirlwind romance, and my friend moved in with her before the second child was born.  The second child turned out to be a boy, and my friend was there for his birth, helping to take care of him from day one.  But because he wasn't married yet, he couldn't adopt the boy himself.  About six months later they got married, and he started the adoption paperwork process.  But then his wife decided that she wanted to move to Chicago to take a new job, and wanted to adopt a third child, also a boy.  (They were living in Wisconsin at the time.)  So they moved down to the Chicago burbs, adopted the third kid together, and lived their lives.  Thinking he had all the time in the world to adopt his oldest son, my friend looked into finishing the paperwork, but never did, as he was busy trying to find a job and raise three small children.  He even got a vasectomy.   Then, out of the blue, he finds out that half of the "trips" she's been on for her new job have been extracurricular.  She's been sleeping with her new boss.  She has another boyfriend in Seattle.  Who knows what else. 

Their marriage falls apart, and she moves out and she refuses to let him see their oldest son, who's two-and-half, by this point.  She actually tells him "why should I let you see my son?"  The kid, of course, is heartbroken and starts having developmental problems.   He knows his little brother is getting picked up by his former dad, but he doesn't get to see him anymore.  The situation is a total freaking mess, and this lady is using her son for emotional blackmail.  It's a total mess. 

Like a lot of ugly divorce cases, the record in family court is sealed, but they had a public oral argument on my friend's request to be able to have visitation rights to see his oldest son, and the Chicago Tribune covered it, thankfully.  His wife needs to be shamed until she starts thinking about what's in the best interests of her son.  She's not only ruining my friend's life, she's ruining her own son's. 

Anyway, thought that article and the story behind it might be of interest to the folks here.  I'd post a link, but I guess this cite's rules don't let you.  In any event, if you're interested go to the Chicago Tribune website and search for "adoptee custody" and it'll be the first article that comes up.