diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/search/child/ChildrenQuery.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/search/child/ChildrenQuery.java
index c7549b9cc42..53ee54eb8f4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/search/child/ChildrenQuery.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/search/child/ChildrenQuery.java
@@ -137,7 +137,6 @@ public class ChildrenQuery extends Query {
     @Override
     public Weight createWeight(IndexSearcher searcher) throws IOException {
         SearchContext searchContext = SearchContext.current();
-
         final Query childQuery;
         if (rewrittenChildQuery == null) {
             childQuery = rewrittenChildQuery = searcher.rewrite(originalChildQuery);
@@ -154,27 +153,36 @@ public class ChildrenQuery extends Query {
         switch (scoreType) {
             case MAX:
                 MaxCollector maxCollector = new MaxCollector(parentChildIndexFieldData, parentType, searchContext);
-                indexSearcher.search(childQuery, maxCollector);
-                parentIds = maxCollector.parentIds;
-                scores = maxCollector.scores;
-                occurrences = null;
-                Releasables.release(maxCollector.parentIdsIndex);
+                try {
+                    indexSearcher.search(childQuery, maxCollector);
+                    parentIds = maxCollector.parentIds;
+                    scores = maxCollector.scores;
+                    occurrences = null;
+                } finally {
+                    Releasables.release(maxCollector.parentIdsIndex);
+                }
                 break;
             case SUM:
                 SumCollector sumCollector = new SumCollector(parentChildIndexFieldData, parentType, searchContext);
-                indexSearcher.search(childQuery, sumCollector);
-                parentIds = sumCollector.parentIds;
-                scores = sumCollector.scores;
-                occurrences = null;
-                Releasables.release(sumCollector.parentIdsIndex);
+                try {
+                    indexSearcher.search(childQuery, sumCollector);
+                    parentIds = sumCollector.parentIds;
+                    scores = sumCollector.scores;
+                    occurrences = null;
+                } finally {
+                    Releasables.release(sumCollector.parentIdsIndex);
+                }
                 break;
             case AVG:
                 AvgCollector avgCollector = new AvgCollector(parentChildIndexFieldData, parentType, searchContext);
-                indexSearcher.search(childQuery, avgCollector);
-                parentIds = avgCollector.parentIds;
-                scores = avgCollector.scores;
-                occurrences = avgCollector.occurrences;
-                Releasables.release(avgCollector.parentIdsIndex);
+                try {
+                    indexSearcher.search(childQuery, avgCollector);
+                    parentIds = avgCollector.parentIds;
+                    scores = avgCollector.scores;
+                    occurrences = avgCollector.occurrences;
+                } finally {
+                    Releasables.release(avgCollector.parentIdsIndex);
+                }
                 break;
             default:
                 throw new RuntimeException("Are we missing a score type here? -- " + scoreType);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/search/child/ParentQuery.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/search/child/ParentQuery.java
index 00ccf5e7230..f8069e288b6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/search/child/ParentQuery.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/search/child/ParentQuery.java
@@ -124,26 +124,32 @@ public class ParentQuery extends Query {
     public Weight createWeight(IndexSearcher searcher) throws IOException {
         SearchContext searchContext = SearchContext.current();
         ParentIdAndScoreCollector collector = new ParentIdAndScoreCollector(searchContext, parentChildIndexFieldData, parentType);
-
-        final Query parentQuery;
-        if (rewrittenParentQuery == null) {
-            parentQuery = rewrittenParentQuery = searcher.rewrite(originalParentQuery);
-        } else {
-            assert rewriteIndexReader == searcher.getIndexReader() : "not equal, rewriteIndexReader=" + rewriteIndexReader + " searcher.getIndexReader()=" + searcher.getIndexReader();
-            parentQuery = rewrittenParentQuery;
+        ChildWeight childWeight;
+        boolean releaseCollectorResource = true;
+        try {
+            final Query parentQuery;
+            if (rewrittenParentQuery == null) {
+                parentQuery = rewrittenParentQuery = searcher.rewrite(originalParentQuery);
+            } else {
+                assert rewriteIndexReader == searcher.getIndexReader() : "not equal, rewriteIndexReader=" + rewriteIndexReader + " searcher.getIndexReader()=" + searcher.getIndexReader();
+                parentQuery = rewrittenParentQuery;
+            }
+            IndexSearcher indexSearcher = new IndexSearcher(searcher.getIndexReader());
+            indexSearcher.setSimilarity(searcher.getSimilarity());
+            indexSearcher.search(parentQuery, collector);
+            FloatArray scores = collector.scores;
+            BytesRefHash parentIds = collector.parentIds;
+            if (parentIds.size() == 0) {
+                return Queries.newMatchNoDocsQuery().createWeight(searcher);
+            }
+            childWeight = new ChildWeight(searchContext, parentQuery.createWeight(searcher), childrenFilter, parentIds, scores);
+            releaseCollectorResource = false;
+        } finally {
+            if (releaseCollectorResource) {
+                // either if we run into an exception or if we return early
+                Releasables.release(collector.parentIds, collector.scores);
+            }
         }
-        IndexSearcher indexSearcher = new IndexSearcher(searcher.getIndexReader());
-        indexSearcher.setSimilarity(searcher.getSimilarity());
-        indexSearcher.search(parentQuery, collector);
-        FloatArray scores = collector.scores;
-        BytesRefHash parentIds = collector.parentIds;
-
-        if (parentIds.size() == 0) {
-            Releasables.release(parentIds, scores);
-            return Queries.newMatchNoDocsQuery().createWeight(searcher);
-        }
-
-        ChildWeight childWeight = new ChildWeight(searchContext, parentQuery.createWeight(searcher), childrenFilter, parentIds, scores);
         searchContext.addReleasable(childWeight);
         return childWeight;
     }