Wearing a pink top bearing her daughter’s photo, Kanaiyah Ward’s mother asked Maryland legislators Thursday to spare other parents the pain of burying a child whose care had been entrusted to the state.

“Kanaiyah was a wonderful daughter, and we will miss her,” Brooke Ward told a House committee. “But I hope that you don’t think we are here just to memorialize the loss. 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.”

Ward was among those testifying on behalf of “Kanaiyah’s Law,” a bill that seeks to reform a foster care system that’s been under fire since the 16-year-old girl died of suicide in September in a Baltimore hotel where she had been housed as child welfare staff sought a more appropriate placement.

The bill, introduced by Del. Mike Griffith, who represents Harford and Cecil counties, has support from legislators of both parties, as well as the state Department of Human Services, which, with local social services agencies, runs the foster care system. While DHS stopped sending foster youth to hotels and other unlicensed settings in the wake of Kanaiyah’s death, the bill would codify that into law, as well as increase the number of background checks the agency conducts and appoint an independent ombudsman to look out for children in its care.

The bill is a personal one for Griffith, who spent some of his youth in foster care himself.

“As a former foster kid myself, I experienced a lot of these injustices,” the Republican said in a news conference in advance of the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee. “It’s unfortunate that it had to take this type of tragedy for people to finally stand and pay attention. But the good news is, people are. And I think we’re going to be able to solve some of these things with this bill.”

With Ward seated next to him at the committee hearing, he told members that the mother had turned to the state for help for a girl with a history of self-harm and a previous suicide attempt, only for Kanaiyah to die in a hotel where she was supposed to be under round-the-clock watch of a “one-on-one” chaperone.

“She was placed into foster care because Kanaiyah’s mother was worried about her safety and her well-being, and worried that she may take her own life,” Griffith said. “Unfortunately, she was placed in a hotel with not a guardian, but somebody called a chaperone, and she was left to her own devices.”

Several child advocates and DHS staff also spoke, saying that with some changes they’ve worked on with Griffith, they urged the bill’s passage.

Mitchell Mirviss, a Venable law firm partner and longtime advocate for foster care reform, said the bill would bring needed “accountability and oversight” to the system.

“This is my 41st year of working on foster care reform here in Maryland, and I can say without a doubt that this is the most important bill I have seen put forward by the General Assembly,” Mirviss said.

Kanaiyah’s death was just one of “many, many tragedies” to emerge in recent months, Griffith said, noting a scathing audit of DHS released just days before the girl was found. The audit faulted the agency for failing to fully vet the criminal backgrounds of adults who come into contact with children.

He said he appreciated DHS working with him and endorsing the bill.

“There’s no more, ‘Oh well, it’s just this one kid,” Griffith said. “Nope, never again… You have to understand the previous mistakes and what was not done to highlight the importance of what needs to be done now. And this is an opportunity now.”

Justin Hayes, acting director of DHS’s government affairs office, told the committee the department’s “highest priorities” are the safety and well-being of Maryland children.

“DHS takes these issues incredibly seriously,” he said. “We continue to have conversations about what oversight and accountability in this space looks like.”

While DHS said it no longer uses hotels, homeless shelters and social services office buildings as it had in the past, it still has about six or seven youth “overstaying” in hospitals, also unlicensed for foster care, awaiting placements. The Maryland Hospital Association has disputed that number, saying by their count there are more than 30 youth living in hospitals, the discrepancy apparently over some of them not officially being in DHS custody.

DHS has said it is working on the hospital overstay issue as well.

Delegates questioned DHS officials over placements, and whether they were increasing to make sure those who formerly were housed in hotels had somewhere to go.

“So where are these kids?” said Del. Karen Simpson, a Frederick County Democrat. “Where did you find them a home?”

Stephen Liggett-Creel, senior advisor to the DHS secretary, said the children were all in licensed placements.

Del. Jamila Woods, a Prince George’s County Democrat who said that, like Griffith, she had spent part of her childhood in foster care, asked whether DHS was working to increase the number of homes able to provide a higher level of therapeutic care. DHS in the past has said youth who had ended up in hotels and hospital overstays often had greater mental health and behavioral needs, making it more difficult to find placements.

Liggett-Creel said the department continually offers training, engages its providers to “build capacity” and has been able to add new providers on board.

DHS is in the midst of a leadership change, with Secretary Rafael López recently resigning, citing health reasons.

Committee members were solicitous of Kanaiyah’s mother, offering condolences and gratitude for her speaking in a public forum about her daughter for the first time. Ward spoke briefly, declining a delegate’s offer to speak at greater length about Kanaiyah. Instead, she put the focus on the bill at hand.

“I fully support the work of what I hope will become Kanaiyah’s Law,” she said in her opening statement. “I hope we can put politics aside and focus on something weall have in common: the love of our children. I look forward to providing any help I can for this law.”

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