Public filings show 13-year-old Jade Smith was reported missing near the Brooklyn Bridge hours before she was found in the East River. A federal lawsuit alleges that New York City’s child welfare system failed at the moments that mattered, from mental health planning to placement oversight to missing-from-care response. This story follows what the record shows, and what the sealed record keeps from view.

Across much of the country, child welfare agencies have used foster children’s Social Security benefits to reimburse government expenses, leaving many youth to age out with nothing. Federal pressure is rising to end the practice. The unanswered question is whether restitution will follow.