Maryland Is Still Hiding Its Missing Foster Children — We’ve Been Asking for Seven Months
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews On Wednesday morning, Maryland's Department of Human Services confirmed to Spotlight on...
Foster Care
Law Day Irony: Maryland’s Top Lawyer Has Failed the Law
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews At 3:07 p.m. today, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown posted a tribute to the rule of...
Maryland Senate Unanimously Passes Kanaiyah’s Law on Final Day of Session
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland Senate voted unanimously on Monday to pass House Bill 980, known...
Federal foster care watchdog quietly rewrote the rules — then sent Maryland a smaller bill
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews On November 14, 2025, a senior official at the federal Children's Bureau — signing as...
Months Missing: How Maryland’s Broken Child Welfare System Lost Track of Tristan King
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews For nearly six months, a nine-year-old boy was effectively missing in plain sight in...
Maryland’s Child Trafficking Crisis: Two Federal Indictments Raise Urgent Questions About Protection and Enforcement
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Two separate federal indictments out of Maryland this month allege horrific crimes...
Maryland’s Most Vulnerable: The Children Who Died While Annapolis Looked Away
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Since January 2023, when Gov. Wes Moore took office, Maryland has continued to lose some of...
Moore Lets López Walk: Accountability Still Missing at Maryland DHS
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland Department of Human Services Secretary Rafael López is out — but not fired. In...
Audit Panic or Real Reform? Maryland’s Foster Care System Still Has Cracks
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland’s foster care system has undeniably changed since the devastating September 2025...
Maryland Bans Hotel Placements, Rolls Out New Tech — But Is Foster Care Finally Fixed?
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews After a scathing September 2025 legislative audit exposed deep failures in Maryland’s...
Lawmakers “Frustrated” — But Maryland’s Foster Care Crisis Is Years in the Making
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland lawmakers say they’re frustrated. They should be. But what unfolded in Annapolis...
Maryland’s Quiet Justice Debate: Juvenile Reform and Foster Care Head Into 2026
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews As Maryland heads into the 2026 legislative session, some of the most consequential public...
HOTEL ROOM, NO SECOND CHANCES
By Michael Phillips When a child dies under state supervision, the public is owed more than condolences. We are owed...
Melania Trump’s “Fostering the Future” Executive Order Signals a New Federal Push for Family Preservation and Accountability
By Michael Phillips — MDBayNews and Father & Co. When First Lady Melania Trump stepped to the podium to introduce the...
Maryland Admits Nearly 1,000 Foster Children Missing Since 2020 — Most Are Teenage Girls
In a letter released on October 22, 2025, Maryland’s Department of Human Services (DHS) confirmed what advocates had long...
The Moral Economy of Neglect: How Maryland’s “Compassionate Governance” Betrays Its Foster Children
This investigation is part of MDBayNews’ coverage of child-welfare oversight in Maryland. All claims are sourced to...
Government Failure at Its Worst: How Maryland’s Foster System Left a 16-Year-Old Girl to Die in a Hotel Room
On September 22, 2025, tragedy struck in East Baltimore when 16-year-old foster child Kanaiyah Ward was found dead inside a...