Bipartisan foster care reform measure clears chamber 45-0 as General Assembly prepares to adjourn sine die
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews
ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland Senate voted unanimously on Monday to pass House Bill 980, known as Kanaiyah’s Law, sending landmark foster care reform legislation to Governor Wes Moore on the final day of the 2026 General Assembly session. The 45-0 vote marked one of the session’s most unambiguous moments of bipartisan agreement.
The bill was sponsored by Del. Mike Griffith (R-Cecil and Harford), a Republican who spent much of his own teenage years in Maryland’s foster care system. The legislation is named after Kanaiyah London Ward, a 16-year-old girl from Prince George’s County who was in the custody of the Department of Human Services when she was found unresponsive in a Baltimore hotel on September 22, 2025. Authorities determined her death was caused by diphenhydramine intoxication, with circumstances indicating the incident was self-inflicted.
Griffith told lawmakers that DHS placed Kanaiyah in a hotel room with limited supervision — not even a guardian, but someone the agency called a “chaperone” — while she had marks on her body from repeated suicide attempts and access to a bottle containing more than 350 Benadryl pills.
What the Law Does
HB 980 prohibits the Social Services Administration within the Department of Human Services from placing children in unlicensed settings in its out-of-home placement program. The bill also establishes procedures requiring adults in the home of a court-appointed guardian to obtain a criminal history records check, and creates a Child Welfare Ombudsman.
The ombudsman must be an attorney with expertise in child welfare, custody and guardianship issues, appeals, and due process, and will be responsible for investigating complaints from youth in out-of-home placements. The ombudsman is appointed by the Attorney General with the advice and consent of the Senate, serves a five-year term, and can be removed for cause.
The background check requirement carries financial teeth: adults living in guardianship homes must complete the criminal history check, or the household loses access to the state’s guardianship assistance program.
DHS anticipates the bill will require at least 42 new personnel, including background screening analysts, social workers, quality assurance analysts, assistant attorneys general, and a human services specialist.
A Republican Bill That Passed Every Chamber
The bill’s bipartisan sweep is notable. The House passed HB 980 on March 21 by a vote of 127-0, with six members not voting. Monday’s Senate vote of 45-0 sent it to the governor without a single dissenting voice.
Griffith has argued that codifying DHS policy changes into law is essential because administrative policy can be reversed by any future official with a signature. “Something that can be done with a pen can be undone with a pen,” he told the House Judiciary Committee in February.
Griffith’s point carries weight beyond this bill. Prior to Kanaiyah’s death, DHS had already faced repeated audit findings of noncompliance, including lack of medical care for foster children, placement of children in homes with registered sex offenders, and placement in homeless shelters, office buildings, and hotel rooms. The department ended the hotel placement practice administratively in November 2025. HB 980 makes that prohibition permanent in statute.
Kanaiyah’s Mother
Kanaiyah’s mother, Brooke Ward, testified before the House Judiciary Committee in February wearing a hoodie with a photo of her daughter printed on the front. “I hope that you don’t think we are here to just memorialize the loss,” she told lawmakers. “We are hoping that the young men and women who need the help get it, and that the systems they rely upon to protect and serve them actually work.”
Governor Moore is expected to sign the bill. His office and DHS both expressed support for the legislation during the session, though DHS requested minor adjustments during the committee process.
The law’s passage represents one of the cleaner accountability stories of the 2026 session — a Republican delegate, drawing on his own experience in the system, identified a systemic failure, named it after a victim, and built a coalition broad enough that not a single legislator in either chamber voted against it.
Sources: Maryland Department of Legislative Services fiscal note for HB 980; FOX45 News; WYPR; CBS Baltimore; The Baltimore Sun; LegiScan Maryland
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