PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — Dylan Groves had suffered tremendously long before his tiny body was found in June at the bottom of a 30-foot well, decomposed and wrapped in plastic bags. He had been born a few months earlier with several drugs in his system, and had spent his first days in the care of a foster mother who had cuddled him while he shook and sweated through withdrawal.

After 12 days, the foster mother, Andrea Bowling, was ordered to return Dylan to his father. “I begged and pleaded for more time,” she said she told the county’s child welfare agency.

“I told them Dylan’s not ready, that he needed lots of love and care, but it fell on deaf ears,” said Ms. Bowling, who has a son of her own and has taken in four other foster children since Dylan left her house in January.

Ms. Bowling, 41, handed Dylan to his father, along with blankets, diapers and a letter that asked the man to call if he needed any help. Over the next few weeks, she asked Scioto County Children Services several times about Dylan, but received only terse replies saying she was no longer privy to that information. Employees warned her to not be a hindrance to family reunification.