ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WBFF) — While holding back tears, the mother of a teen girl who died while in foster care testified before lawmakers Thursday in support of proposed legislation aiming to increase protections for the state’s vulnerable children in hopes of other families not going through her pain.
Brooke Ward, the mother of 16-year-old Kanaiyah Ward, told lawmakers she hopes a proposed bill – with bipartisan support – that’s named after her daughter will become a reality.
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“I hope that you don’t think we are here to just memorialize the loss,” Ward told the House Judiciary Committee. “We are hoping that the young men and women who need the help get it, and that the systems that they rely upon to protect and serve them actually work.”
I hope we can put politics aside and focus on something that we all have in common: the love of our children, Brooke Ward told lawmakers.
Del. Mike Griffith, a Republican representing Cecil and Harford Counties, is the lead sponsor of the bill. Griffith has championed foster care protections and has been outspoken about making changes following a state audit showing a lack of protections in the system for the children – which was published just days before Ward’s death.
“This isn’t against anybody. This is for her, for Kanaiyah, and for all the kids that we’re going to save for this law,” Griffith told reporters before his bill hearing.
Griffith’s bill has more than 50 co-sponsors and has the support of the Department of Human Services with some small adjustments. The legislation, HB 980, seeks to codify DHS’ current policy prohibiting foster care placements in unlicensed settings – that would include hotels, homeless shelters, and local social services offices. The legislation also seeks to require background checks for all court-appointed guardianship homes and seeks to create an independent advocate for foster care children.
During his testimony, Griffith said originally, his legislation called to create an ombudsman within the Attorney General’s Office, but there were some concerns raised about the price tag, and the possibility of conflicts since the OAG would represent DHS in various matters.
Griffith said he, DHS, and the governor’s office “have agreed to a framework” on what that independent advocate would look like.
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The teen girl died by suicide in September 2025 while placed in a Baltimore City hotel. A caregiver contracted to supervise Ward went to wake her up around 5:45 a.m. on Sept. 22 to go to school, according to the police report released by Baltimore Police. Ward previously lived with her family in Prince George’s County but was enrolled as a 10th-grade student at Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts in Baltimore City.
An autopsy report, obtained by FOX45 News, revealed Ward’s death was considered a suicide, caused by an overdose of the active ingredient in Benadryl.
“DHS put Kanaiyah into a hotel room with limited to no supervision, not even with a guardian – someone they called a chaperone,” Griffith said. “Kanaiyah was allowed to be in this room with a bottle of over 350 pills of Benadryl, marks all over her body from repeated suicide attempts.”
While DHS has made policy changes, it’s important to put those changes into law, according to Griffith, to ensure the next leader doesn’t reverse plans.
“Something that can be done with a pen can be undone with a pen, a policy that’s done by, a bureaucrat can be undone by a bureaucrat,” he told the committee. “There’s no more interpretation. There’s no more, ‘oh, well just this one kid.’ Nope. Never again.”
During an interview on FOX45 News In Depth with Mikenzie Frost, Stephen Liggett-Creel, senior advisor to the DHS secretary, talked about the policy changes that the agency has made.
Liggett-Creel was asked why it took the death of a child in the state’s care to end hotel placements. When the Moore Administration took over in 2023, “one of the first things that we did is recognize that the use of hotels was something we wanted to end,” he said. The agency evaluated the problem, but Liggett-Creel said they “didn’t want to make decisions that ultimately could have other consequences.”
“We came in in 2023 and started to look at this issue between 23 and ending this practice of hotel stays in 25 for something that had been happening for 10 years,” he said when pressed on the timeline of changes.
Liggett-Creel wouldn’t say whether anyone within DHS was disciplined or fired because of Ward’s death.
“That’s a personnel issue that I wouldn’t be able to speak to,” he said.
When the new contracts for one-on-one providers go before the state’s spending board in March, Liggett-Creel said it will “demand” 100% background checks for contractors.
Ultimately, the House committee didn’t vote on the legislation but lawmakers appear poised to find solutions to the concerns.
Follow Political Reporter Mikenzie Frost on X and Facebook. Send tips to mbfrost@sbgtv.com.
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