A 16-year-old girl in Maryland foster care was found dead Monday morning inside a Baltimore hotel room where she had been living under the supervision of the state Department of Human Services (DHS).
Her body was discovered by a hotel employee at the Residence Inn by Marriott near Johns Hopkins Hospital, according to Fox45.
Authorities have not yet released the teen’s official cause of death, though police reportedly investigated the possibility of an overdose.
The medical examiner’s office has called the circumstances “questionable.”
The teenager, identified by family as Kanaiyah Ward, had been in foster care for several years. According to her family’s attorney, Kanaiyah came from a loving home, and her mother had been actively fighting to get her daughter better care, including treatment for mental health needs.
“This wasn’t a situation where she had abandoned her daughter – quite the contrary. She was fighting for her daughter to get the help she needed,” said attorney Thomas Doyle.
Her death comes just one week after a legislative audit revealed that Maryland placed nearly 300 foster children in hotels instead of licensed homes between 2023 and 2024.
The report criticized the state for failing to perform criminal background checks on caregivers and for leaving children without consistent medical and mental health care.
Kanaiyah was reportedly supposed to have one-on-one supervision by a contracted vendor while staying at the hotel. DHS confirmed that it has launched an investigation into whether its care standards were met.
“If we find that our standards for care were not met, we will hold our contractors accountable,” a DHS spokesperson said.
The audit further found that dozens of children lived in hotels for months — and in some cases, up to two years.
Lawmakers and advocates have since called for urgent reforms. Delegate Mike Griffith, who grew up in Maryland’s foster system, described Kanaiyah’s death as “an absolute outrage” and announced he is drafting Kanaiyah’s Law, legislation that would require training, licensing, and criminal background checks for contracted caregivers.
“How many foster kids now, in these hotel rooms, in these group homes, look at this and now may think, ‘Maybe I’m next?’” Griffith asked.
Kanaiyah’s family is demanding accountability and systemic change.
“If we’re not protecting the children, then we’re all failing,” Doyle said.
As of this week, DHS confirmed that 18 foster youth are still being housed in hotels across the state.
