I nearly dialed 911 on the tattooed teenager holding a screaming baby inside an empty 1 AM laundromat. Then his bag tore open, and my stomach sank with utter shame.

nodded fiercely.

“Then don’t.”

The mediator leaned forward.

“What would feel safe as a first step?”

Jackson unfolded a paper from his pocket.

Trust Jackson to bring notes.

He had survived nursing school with flashcards and schedules.

He was not going to enter fatherhood’s hardest conversation unprepared.

“Two more supervised visits,” he said. “Then one unsupervised continue reading …