Human Services Secretary Rafael J. Lopez ordered local departments of social services to end the practice of using hotels for placement of children in foster care. The department said the aiz currently living in hotels must be removed by Nov. 24. (File photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)
Local social services agencies have been directed by the secretary of the Maryland Department of Human Services to end the practice of housing foster care children in unlicensed facilities, including hotels.
The directive, issued in an Oct. 22 memo, orders all local departments of social services to immediately stop facilitating stays in unlicensed settings “for youth experiencing out-of-home” care. The announcement comes a month after the death of a 16-year-old girl who died of an apparent overdose while under state supervision in a Baltimore City hotel…