Thanks cbg, I knew a fellow writer would understand! That was solid advice from the lawyer and I wholeheartedly agree. I had to make a similar decision on the first book in this series. In the rough draft I was adhering too strictly to the rule of law, and the readers in my test group felt something was missing, with nearly all of them making the same suggestion for a particular scene. In the end I decided to bend the rules a little to give the story a more satisfying resolution, and readers seem to like it this way. And there's really no point in writing fiction if we can't make it more satisfying than real life sometimes! I was prepared to take some artistic license in the second book as well, as I had a storyline I was quite attached to that I wasn't sure would ever really happen, but then I talked to an expert in the field and found out my storyline was actually quite plausible! I was over the moon about that! With this new book I'm also feeling optimistic that I can pull off the desired storyline without a problem, but I'll certainly use some license if necessary to pull it off.

Another question burning in my mind is: what's the lightest possible sentence the kidnapper could get? Is there any way she could get probation, or is some prison time a given? She doens't have a record, she took the child with a genuine belief that she could give her a better life than her birth parents could, and she raised her well. The baby she kidnapped is now a successful woman in her late thirties who is pretty upset about the arrest of the woman she's been calling Mom all these years. Because of other circumstances involving the birth family, I think a judge would have some sympathy for the kidnapper and would likely show some leniency, but nevertheless, she did commit a crime.