Maryland failed to protect children in state care from sex offenders, audit reveals

A scathing audit finds Maryland's Social Services Administration failed to protect some children in its care from sex offenders and did not provide basic medical and dental care to thousands of vulnerable juveniles. 

Sen. Shelley Hettleman, the Baltimore County Democrat who chairs the Joint Audit and Evaluation Committee, told WJZ Investigates that lawmakers will hold hearings soon to follow up on the findings. 

Sen. Hettleman said lawmakers must conduct "due diligence to find out how we can ensure the safety and security of children."

You can read the audit here.

What the audit reveals 

Auditors found children may have been placed in homes with registered sex offenders. 

"Specifically, our audit disclosed that SSA did not have comprehensive procedures to ensure individuals with disqualifying criminal backgrounds did not have access to children in the state's care. As a result, SSA was not aware of the seven registered sex offenders we identified that had the same address as an approved guardianship home housing 10 children as of August 2024," Legislative Auditor Brian Tanen wrote.

They uncovered a lack of comprehensive background checks for providers and found that one employee of a foster care home had a prior conviction for sexually assaulting a minor. "This individual was subsequently charged with crimes involving children under his care," the audit stated. 

The audit also highlighted children being housed in hotels and found that in one of those hotels, a contract worker had a prior murder conviction. 

Baltimore County Republican Delegate Kathy Szeliga said she was "shocked and appalled" by the revelations about Maryland's Social Services Administration and called for a criminal investigation.

The agency is entrusted with protecting thousands of children in state care. 

"We need immediate change," Szeliga said. "Someone must take responsibility for a sex offender having access to four- to eight-year-olds. A convicted murderer was working with foster children. It's heartbreaking. These foster kids come out of a bad situation, and we're trusting the state to take care of these children, and they are not doing that."

Szeliga knows the system, having once provided foster care herself. 

"I had a thorough background check. They checked our bank statements. They looked at our tax returns. Were we doing this for the money? Did we have a criminal background? I just can't imagine how the system has fallen this far," Szeliga said.

The audit also found more than $34 million in overpayments not recouped.

Hundreds of children in state care were not receiving basic medical and dental checkups, according to the findings.

"These kids in foster care are our most vulnerable children, and we must, must, must do better," Szeliga said.

Longstanding issues 

"The state is essentially their guardian providing basic protections, safeguards, healthcare, et cetera and we're failing them, and that's really heartbreaking to see that these are children who are in need, and we are not as a state able to step up to provide the proper care and protections," said Sen. Clarence Lam, a Democrat who represents Howard and Anne Arundel Counties. 

Lam previously chaired the audit committee and said the same issues have persisted for years. 

"We tried to hold them accountable, and unfortunately, from this latest audit that we have seen, these problems that are seemingly pretty deep-rooted and deep-seated continue to this very day," Sen. Lam said. "Things that are pretty basic, like criminal background checks, are not occurring on a regular basis. Areas where children need medical exams or dental exams—those aren't taking place either. Those are things we found back in 2022 that are still a problem today."

Maryland's Secretary of Human Services, Rafael López, touted progress in getting children out of hotels while speaking before the state spending board last week. He said the state moved with "great urgency." 

López noted hospital overstays have been "dramatically reduced."

He said in February 2024, there were 21 youth who had spent longer than 48 hours in hospitals and 54 staying in hotels. Now, there are 10 in hospitals and 11 in hotels.

"We have focused like a laser on hospitals and hotels, which have been a challenge to Maryland for many decades," the secretary said.

Social Services responded to auditors, maintaining, "The safety and well-being of children is our highest priority."

"What the department really needs is new leadership overseeing the Social Services Administration," Sen. Lam said. 

He also pointed to widespread staffing vacancies—up to one in five positions unfilled—that he said can lead to gaps in care.

"It's clear from the audit that there are some very core functions of this agency that don't seem to be operating correctly, and that's really a failure on the part of this department," Lam said. 

State response

In a letter attached to the audit, Secretary López wrote the following:

"The safety and well-being of Maryland's children are our highest priority. As such, we take the findings of this audit with the utmost seriousness. In the 1.5 years of the 4-year audit period during which I served as Secretary, our leadership team has moved with urgency and challenged the status quo not only with the Social Services Administration, but across the entire department." 

"We are enhancing our internal quality control, raising standards, and improving our information system of record to better monitor performance. We will continue to move urgently in partnership with all 24 of our local departments of social services, state and federal partners, to implement proactive solutions to resolve decades-old issues identified in the audit."

"We are fully committed to ensuring the highest standards of care and oversight in the administration of child welfare programs. Marylanders deserve nothing less than world-class service."