Few child custody cases are as heart rendering as cases where one parent suffers from mental illness can be. While the parent may have the best intentions and want to help raise his or her children, family law courts in Florida must consider the child's best interests when determining a custody arrangement. Sadly, in some cases a parent may be unfit to care for his or her children due to a mental condition.

The case of a woman who has sued New York City for $900 trillion provides an example of a child custody case involving mental health issues. The woman is accusing the city's children' services agency of harming her two sons by taking them away from her and placing them in foster care in 2008.

Court records indicate that officials intervened because the woman suffered from an untreated mental illness. She appeared to suffer from paranoid delusions, including that the FBI was out to get her sons and that their skin was growing darker due to radiation.

In her suit, the mother says that her children were healthy and doing well in school while they lived with her. Now that they are in foster care, the boys' school attendance has decreased and one of them was arrested for drug possession. City officials have no comment on the lawsuit.

Behind the lawsuit is a child custody dispute where a woman with mental health issues is contending that her children would do well in her household.

As a professor of social work interviewed in an article about the case said, courts must balance the rights and safety of children with their parents' legal rights. Often, parents with a mental illness who display a willingness to work with mental health services have a better chance of regaining custody.

Source: ABC News, "Staten Island Mom Sues NYC for $900 Trillion," Mikaela Conley, Feb. 8, 2012