Analysis of a State Audit and the Demand for Immediate Reform

The Coalition to Protect Maryland’s Children (CPMC), a statewide group focused on prevention and intervention of child abuse and neglect, has released its analysis of the 2025 audit report of the Maryland Department of Human Services - Social Services Administration submitted by the Department of Legislative Services. The audit's findings have sparked much public debate about accountability issues among the state’s child-serving agencies and the lack of resources made available to local departments. The audit documented persistent deficiencies from 2020–2024, including placement shortages driving reliance on hotels and hospitals, outdated record systems, and excessive burdens on frontline staff.

What the data shows

CPMC’s analysis notes that while Maryland has reduced overall foster care entries — including a 29% drop in Baltimore City since 2019 — the children who do enter care increasingly have complex behavioral health needs. With too few specialized placements, youth are too often diverted to unsafe stopgaps like hotels or prolonged hospital stays.

CPMC’s immediate policy asks

• End hotel placements now by investing in safe, specialized options for older youth and youth with high needs while maintaining the least restrictive places.

• Modernize case management and health record systems to replace paper-based documentation that delays care and clouds accountability.

• Engage frontline staff to identify practical workload reforms that strengthen safety and stability.

• Strengthen interagency collaboration to coordinate services for youth with complex behavioral health needs.

• Restore transparency by re-establishing accessible child welfare data to the public.

CPMC's analysis of the state audit findings is located here.

CPMC's Steering Committee has released the following statement:

“Oversight and paperwork alone will not protect children — only bold, systemic reform will. By addressing structural barriers and supporting frontline practice, Maryland can strengthen both compliance and outcomes. Failures to intervene and protect children can be seen across various systems which poorly coordinate services for families with multiple needs. Our children deserve effective responses to the barriers they experience to be healthy, safe, and thrive. This means not having the state’s child-serving agencies operate in silos. No single public agency can meet all child and family needs. It is time for Maryland to demonstrate its political will by having the Governor’s Office for Children and Children’s Cabinet lead and implement effective policy, create better partnerships between state and local agencies, and commit to our children as priorities.”