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.

West Virginia’s child welfare system is spending millions to ship foster kids out of state while investigations fail at home, oversight breaks down, and children end up in crisis placements. This report lays out the documented pattern.

Fifteen-year-old Christian Williams had Type 1 diabetes and was in Arizona DCS custody at a Catalyst group home in Mesa. Emails warned that missed insulin “will result in his death.” A DCS-contracted worker asked for a nurse. An emergency team met. Nothing changed. On July 7, 2024, staff framed a medical crisis as misbehavior and delayed 911. Christian died three days later of diabetic ketoacidosis. Licensing took no action. This investigation follows each warning, each decision, and the policies that should have protected him.