How Could You?Hall of Shame-Kanaiyah Ward case-Child Death UPDATED and Lawsuit
This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.
From Prince George’s County, Maryland, 16-year-old Kanaiyah Ward, died on September 22, 2025 “in state foster care. She was found dead in a Baltimore hotel where she was being housed temporarily.”
“A caregiver[you need to say the name! 😡] contracted to watch a 16-year-old foster youth who died in a Baltimore hotel room told police that when she initially couldn’t wake up the girl, she thought it was because she was a “heavy sleeper,” according to a Baltimore police report released Friday.
Almost five hours later, the caregiver said she tried again, but found Kanaiyah Ward with “no visible signs of life,” according to the report. A medic pronounced the girl dead, and the medical examiner’s office subsequently ruled the death a suicide.
The report provides a few new details about the death, which had prompted outrage over the practice of housing foster youth in hotels and other inappropriate settings.
While the Maryland Department of Human Services, which operates the foster care system with local agencies, is discontinuing the practice, Republican members of the state House of Delegates have called for DHS Secretary Rafael López to be fired.
According to police, the “chaperone,” whose name was redacted, said she went to wake Kanaiyah up in her room, in the Residence Inn by Marriott, at around 5:45 a.m. on Sept. 22 to go to school. The girl, who had lived with her family in Prince George’s County, had been a 10th-grade student at Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts.”
“Although the company the caregiver works for was redacted,[Again, name it 😡] a spokeswoman for DHS told The Sun that local agencies have “ceased referrals from local departments of social services to Fenwick Behavioral Services on September 24.”
SUN: Baltimore Police release details in hotel death of foster girl Kanaiyah Ward
[Baltimore Sun 11/16/25 by Jean Marbella]
Kanaiyah’s ““Mom was diligently trying to get her out of there and into a facility – because she was not getting any care for the mental health. That much we know, other than medication,” Doyle said.
A recent four-year audit of the state’s social services administration found 280 foster kids were placed in hotels under the supervision of a one-on-one vendor between 2023 and 2024. Dozens of kids stayed in hotels for between three months and two years.
The report says the providers were not licensed and didn’t go through criminal background checks.
Del. Mike Griffith called Kanaiyah’s death an “absolute outrage.”
He grew up in Maryland’s foster care system. He’s drafting legislation called Kanaiyah’s Law that will require training, licensing and criminal background checks for providers.”
What happened to Kanaiyah? Teen girl found dead in hotel while in Maryland foster care
[NBC Washington 10/2/25 by Darcy Spencer]
Maryland Department of Human Services! You should be ashamed!
REFORM Puzzle Piece
UPDATE:“The Senate chair grilled DHS officials about how some foster care children who can’t be placed are staying in hospitals for 60 to 100 days. They don’t receive services or schooling, and they can’t even go outside.
“This child was in a room for 60 days. No treatment. Couldn’t go outside. Had food and clothes — that was it. And I was told DHS doesn’t take custody until they have placement for children,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Pam Beidle, D-District 32.
“We are actively involved in identifying placements. We work closely with the family to work through the VPA, identify alternatives to being in that hospital,” said Stephen Ligget-Creel, senior adviser to the DHS secretary.
DHS doesn’t take responsibility for the child until a voluntary placement agreement is signed by a parent or guardian. Committee testimony indicated sometimes foster children stay in hospitals as long as 100 days.
“It is not fair to the children who need behavioral health or medication. We are not helping children when we leave them in a facility like that,” Beidle said.
DHS officials told lawmakers on Wednesday that there are seven children currently experiencing a hospital overstay — a 65% decline from the same time last year. Five of those children will soon be placed.
Reform measures being taken by DHS include establishing a permanent cross agency oversight mechanism in the Governor’s Office for Children, creating a children and youth placement manager position, convening a rapid response placement team for overstays and improving data tracking and sharing.
Still, Ward’s death in September 2025 revealed other issues. DHS said children are no longer placed at hotels. Committee members said DHS workers are concerned about CJAMS, a tracking system.
“A lot of DHS folks are saying CJAMS has been really difficult to work with. It has been very clunky. That’s why they had to resort to cataloging things on spreadsheets,” said Sen. Clarence Lam, D-District 12.
“We have identified areas where it is clunky, and we’re working to refine them,” Ligget-Creel said.
“The well-being of our young people is our top priority. We will not rest until every child in the state is safe, thriving in a permanent home, surrounded by loving family,” said Webster Ye, chief of staff for the DHS secretary.
DHS and its work group provided lawmakers with a thick call for action plan. According to the agency, officials are also implementing five previously passed bills designed to improve performance and enhance transparency.”
Maryland DHS officials grilled by lawmakers following death of girl living under state care
[WBAL 1/29/26 by David Collins]
Update 2:“Maryland’s spending board approved contracts totaling more than $1 billion to provide new licensed caregivers for foster children as the state responds to the death in 2025 of a teenager who was being housed in a hotel.
The interim secretary of Maryland’s Department of Human Services (DHS) called the funding package “historic.”
Right now, major pieces of legislation are moving through the General Assembly to prevent further tragedies. ”
“”For the first time, we will have very clear guidelines for who will be a provider for our children and how we expect them to behave,” said Interim DHS Secretary Gloria Brown Burnett.
Burnett told Comptroller Brooke Lierman that DHS would never return to housing children in hotels.
“The October 2025 directive prohibits our local offices from facilitating any stays in unlicensed settings, including hotels,” the interim secretary said when asked about the issue.
The next step will be stopping overstays in hospitals after foster children have been medically discharged.
Currently, eight children are living in hospitals, down from 20 in January 2025, according to documents provided to the spending board.
“I think you would agree that one case in a hospital overstay is still too many, right?” Lierman asked the interim secretary. “And I think some of the recent incidents that we’ve seen underscore how urgent this issue remains.”
Lierman pushed to end hospital and hotel stays as a member of the General Assembly in 2020 and said it was disappointing that it had taken this long.
The interim secretary would not, however, give an exact date for when the practice would officially end. 
“It would be irresponsible of me to stand here and give you a date,” Burnett told Lierman. “What I can say is that today’s contracts are an important step forward in expanding our capacity. Hospital overstays are a byproduct of not having enough resources, both in-state and as a last resort out-of-state—so these contracts, along with the work we continue to do to incentivize the types of places that we need for our children, move us much closer to ending hospital overstays.”
The state also reports that in the past two years, more than 300 foster children have been placed with other relatives and taken out of contracted care, something they say is healthier for them. ”
Maryland pushes to end warehousing foster children in hospitals, approves $1.2 billion in reforms after teen’s death
[CBS News 3/19/26 by Mike Hellgren]
Update 3:“The mother of a foster child who died in state care in 2025 is suing Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and other officials, accusing them of inaction and multiple failures that contributed to her daughter’s death.
Sixteen-year-old Kanaiyah Ward died in September 2025 at a Marriott Residence Inn just steps from the Johns Hopkins Hospital campus in Baltimore.
Her case prompted Maryland to end its practice of housing some foster children in hotels.
Kanaiyah Ward died alone in a room on the 11th floor of the Marriott Residence Inn off North Wolfe Street, with pink Benadryl pills scattered by her side along with a suicide note.
She was a foster child assigned to live in the hotel by the state, something her mother’s legal team told WJZ Investigates was dangerous and never should have happened.
Her mother Brooke Ward’s new federal lawsuit names the governor and other state leaders and contractors.
“Every institution with a hand in Kanaiyah’s care knew what she needed, and every one of them failed her,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit noted the teenager’s mother “brings this action to hold every one of them accountable for what they did, for what they failed to do, and for the death of a child who had no one else to protect her.””
“The lawsuit detailed how Ward’s contracted caretaker was working a 53-hour shift after her co-worker called out sick.
It alleged she failed to check on the 16-year-old for more than 4 hours and left medication unsecured despite Ward’s documented history as a suicide risk—and was unable to help revive her.
“The 911 call is absolutely chilling. The woman didn’t know CPR. When the dispatcher was trying to walk her through it, she refused. She couldn’t find a defibrillator. It’s just egregious,” said Thomas Doyle, who is also a member of the Ward family’s legal team. “”
“The lawsuit also names Marriott International, which franchises the hotel. ”
[CBS NEWS Baltimore 10/21/26 by Mike Hellgren]
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