Brooke Ward’s lawsuit names Gov. Wes Moore, Marriott and people and entities it says were responsible for Kanaiyah Ward’s care. The complaint alleges Maryland unlawfully placed the teenager in a hotel and that her state-provided, one-on-one caregiver neglected her. It also says the hotel had a state contract to house children in care who lacked other placements.

Kanaiyah died in 2025. An official determination reported at the time found that she died by suicide from diphenhydramine intoxication.

The complaint argues that the placement violated a 1988 federal court consent decree intended to bar Maryland from housing foster children in Baltimore City hotels. It accuses state agencies and other institutions of failing to meet their responsibilities to children in foster care, and says the administration did not issue a directive ending hotel placements until after Kanaiyah’s death.

The Maryland Department of Human Services said it could not address details of the ongoing litigation because of privacy protections. The department said it released records that could legally be disclosed in December 2025, including a finding of child neglect involving employees of the one-on-one service provider assigned to Kanaiyah.

The department also said it had sharply reduced hotel placements over the preceding three years and ended the practice entirely in November 2025. It said it worked with the General Assembly to pass Kanaiyah’s Law, which is intended to strengthen the state’s child welfare system.

The lawsuit places renewed scrutiny on how Maryland finds safe, stable placements for children in state care—and on the responsibilities of government agencies and private contractors when children have nowhere else to go.