A California woman at the center of a contentious legal battle over custody of her out-of-control daughter tried her best to take care of the teen.

She looked for the girl each time she ran away from home, sent her to live with her grandparents, and called police and a child welfare agency for help, court records say. But instead of moving to find the 17-year-old delinquent, a legal determination that she did something wrong, officials said her mom could not protect her and took her away.

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Michael Wald, an expert in children’s rights and welfare at Stanford Law School, said parents are often seen as “blameworthy” when their kids are taken away under the law in question.

It is often invoked in cases where a parent is abusing or neglecting a child. It can also apply when a parent becomes homeless or is mentally incapacitated, Wald said.