Thousands of children in the throes of mental health crises are turned over to foster care each year by parents who can’t access – or afford – the treatment they need, according to a first-ever database of such “relinquishments” created by The Imprint, with support from the Fund. More than 20 years ago, a report for Congress identified this problem, which has shattered families, devastated kids and strained ill-equipped foster care systems. But it has never been tracked, making it difficult to address. To more fully document the scope, The Imprint sent questionnaires to agencies in all 50 states, asking about foster care relinquishment cases between 2014 and 2024, as well as how the cases were handled and what happened as a result. The first in an ongoing series of stories examines the data and the underlying issues feeding it.
Grantee investigation tracks extent of parents surrendering their kids to foster care to get mental-health treatment
