Help with Custody Relinquishment

On December 5, 2002, ABC Primetime aired a compelling segment on parents who give up custody of their children to obtain needed mental health services. Since then, the Bazelon Center has received calls from families across the country seeking assistance for for their families. Unfortunately, with only six full-time staff attorneys to serve the entire country, we are unable to provide assistance in individual cases.

Fortunately, an extremely committed network of families and advocates from across the United States is working to end this horrible practice. There are several ways for you to access legal help and get involved with efforts to end the practice of relinquishing custody to obtain mental health services.

• Get Help: Obtain legal help or support from advocates in your area.
• Learn More: Find out about the problem and some of the solutions
• Get Involved: Become an advocate. Help convince lawmakers and the media that parents should not have to give up custody of their child to receive needed mental health services.

To Get Help:

• Contact your local protection and advocacy (P&A) system. State P&As are federally funded to assist people with mental or developmental disabilities in understanding and asserting their rights. To find your state's P&A, visit the website of their national association, http://www.protectionandadvocacy.com.
• Contact your local chapter of the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health (FFCMH) and ask about services available in your area. To find the Federation chapter nearest you, point your web browser to http://www.ffcmh.org/Affliates_files/affiliates.htm.

To Learn More:

• Visit our custody relinquishment page.
• Read Avoiding Cruel Choices, the Bazelon Center's latest report on the subject. Available for free download online in HTML and PDF formats.
• Read Staying Together: Preventing Custody Relinquishment for Children's Access to Mental Health Services. Available for download in PDF format.
• Purchase Relinquishing Custody: The Tragic Result of Failure to Meet Children's Mental Health Needs. Available from our online bookstore.

To Get Involved:

• Contact your Senators and US Representative and ask them to support legislation to end custody relinquishment. Despite bipartisan support, Congress left town for the year without passing the Family Opportunity Act -- a bill that would have reduced the need for families to relinquish custody of their child to the state to obtain needed services by making it easier to access such services through Medicaid. For more information, see http://www.bazelon.org/newsroom/9-30-02foarelease.htm. To contact your Senators or Representative, visit http://www.bazelon.org/takeaction/.
• Contact your local chapter of the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health (FFCMH) and find out what you can do to improve children's mental health services and prevent custody relinquishment in your state. To find the Federation chapter nearest you, point your web browser to http://www.ffcmh.org/Affliates_files/affiliates.htm.
• While we can't provide assistance in individual cases (see the Get Help section of this page), the story of problems your family faced can help push lawmakers for national changes with Congress and the administration.