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Mentally ill children in Ohio are abused by the system: Care is hard to find, often wretched, and so costly some parents give up their kids to get government help.
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Desperate bargain: custody for care
In the past three years, Ohio parents who've run out of insurance or money have given up custody of as many as 1,800 children so the government will pay to treat their mental illness, the Enquirer has found. Even then, kids don't always get needed help.
• Parents give up kids as last resort
• Photo gallery of one child
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Three families, many struggles
For their mentally ill children, families battle lack of good care, lack of money and a government that is too overwhelmed to do enough.
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Mouseover or click on one of the pictures at right to find out about that family.
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Help, take it or leave it
As Erica Groden starved herself, Summit County offered to send her for treatment - to the one place her mother feared most, a Cleveland center where six workers had just been indicted on sex abuse charges. Read Erica's story
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Cases swamp Children's Hospital
The number of mentally ill children in crisis is at record levels in Greater Cincinnati, with more mentally ill children admitted to the psychiatric unit at Children's Hospital Medical Center than to any similar hospital in the country in 2002. Read more...
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YOUR THOUGHTS
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FROM THE TOP
Gov. Bob Taft acknowledges that Ohio's mental health system doesn't work for thousands of families.
See what else he says
IN KENTUCKY
Kentucky parents turned over at least 14 children to the state in 2001, a General Accounting Office report found. State officials haven't tracked the last two years, but say the practice still occurs.
More...
GETTING HELP
If your mentally ill child is in crisis, officials advise you to go to you nearest E.R. or call one of these numbers.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Enquirer reporters Debra Jasper and Spencer Hunt and photographer Michael E. Keating spent months interviewing people with mental illness, their families, advocates and officials. They also reviewed thousands of pages of records and inspection reports. E-mail djasper@enquirer.com, shunt@enquirer.com or mkeating@enquirer.com.
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