The Board of Public Works voted unanimously Wednesday to approve up to $1.2 billion over five years for contracts with licensed group homes, adding bed capacity that state officials hope will end the practice of hospital overstays for foster children.
The contracts will add 37 beds in licensed group homes with specialized staff for children who are committed to the local social services departments within the state, according to the BPW meeting agenda documents.
The additional beds will limit the number of children who are placed into hospital overstays — children who are medically ready to be discharged from a hospital, but kept there because the Maryland Department of Human Services has nowhere else to place them, Interim Human Services Secretary Gloria Brown Burnett told the board…