Mother meets Father … in jail. On visiting day with her Brother.

Brother and Father are incarcerated together. Father is no stranger to prisons, having served multiple sentences going as far back as 1990.

Mother and Father have a brief relationship and Mother becomes pregnant. Subsequently, Son is born.

When Son is 15 months old, Father begins serving a sentence of sixteen years to life in a maximum security prison. Son, now 5 years old, has had no contact with Father since then.

Somewhere along the line, Mother married and Son lives with his two half-siblings and Stepfather as well as Mother. It seems that Son believes Stepfather is his father and addresses him accordingly.

Father seeks visitation with Son. A New York Family Court grants Father monthly visitation ten months a year.

Mother is admonished for permitting Son to cling to the belief that Stepfather is his father.

Mother appeals the trial court’s ruling. Intermediate appeals court affirms the New York trial court’s ruling, but does scale back the required visits to quarterly instead of monthly.

Mother appeals again.

Mother has been vocal regarding her intention not to comply with any court order mandating that she bring Son to a maximum security facility to visit with Father.

By the time Father is released from confinement, it appears that Son will be 17 years old and able to choose for himself whether he wishes to have any relationship with Father.

Read more in this New York Daily News article: Judge orders New York mom to let son visit dad in upstate prison, but she vows to disobey