FYI: Parents of more than 12,700 children handed them over to government custody in 2001 in order to get mental health care for them, according to the General Accounting Office. The actual number is certainly much higher, GAO said in a report to Congress, because its investigation only got data from 19 state child welfare directors and 30 county juvenile justice offices. Meanwhile, the White House’s high profile New Freedom Commission on Mental Health released its report on the state of the nation’s mental health system this week, timed to coincide with Saturday’s 13th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The commission called the national mental health infrastructure “beyond simple repair.” It recommended a radical overhaul that would focus all efforts on early diagnosis and intervention in mental health illnesses rather than on managing existing conditions. [7/24/03]