Mother sues Maryland officials and Marriott over foster child's death in Baltimore hotel

The mother of a 16-year-old Maryland foster child who died while living in a Baltimore hotel has filed a federal lawsuit against Governor Wes Moore, Marriott International, and more than a dozen other defendants, FOX45 Baltimore reported.

The lawsuit, a 114-page federal civil rights and wrongful death complaint, alleges widespread failures to protect Kanaiyah Ward despite repeated warnings about the dangers of housing vulnerable children in hotels. It accuses state officials, contractors, and hotel operators of failing to provide adequate supervision and safeguards before her death on September 22, 2025.

FOX45 was the first to report Kanaiyah's death and has continued investigating the circumstances surrounding her placement, the state's oversight of foster care contractors, and the failures identified in subsequent investigations.

The complaint states that every institution involved in Kanaiyah's care knew her needs but failed her, naming Governor Moore in his individual capacity and including former Maryland Department of Human Services officials among the defendants.

An attorney representing Kanaiyah's mother said she did not fall through a single crack in the system but through every one of them, highlighting systemic failures in the foster care system and hotel placement oversight in Baltimore.