The new Child Welfare Review Committee will be composed of 15 members appointed by Parker, including national experts in child welfare and foster care, child advocacy leaders and others, according to the mayor's office. Parker will also designate two co-chairs. The panel is tasked with examining how children are placed in and selected for foster homes, as well as how the city and Pennsylvania oversee those homes.

"This is a crisis of unimaginable proportions. The death of Malayshia Alford has shaken me and our city to its core," Parker said in a statement. "The review required by law must take place, but I am requiring the city to do more."

The committee must submit a report to Parker within 120 days of convening, unless she grants an extension for good cause. The report is expected to include recommendations for improving oversight by the Department of Human Services and for better coordination with Community Umbrella Agencies and local foster care agencies. It should also outline steps the system can take toward eliminating child abuse-related fatalities, near-fatalities and injuries, and toward ensuring the safety and well-being of all children in foster care.

The mayor's office said the new committee will operate separately from the state-mandated Act 33 interdisciplinary review of Malayshia's death.

"We will leave no stone unturned as we seek answers for what happened in this case, to understand more fully how it happened, and to make any changes necessary to ensure that it never happens again," Parker said. "We grieve Malayshia Alford's loss. Every child matters in Philadelphia."

Carpirce Williams, Malayshia's foster mother and a Philadelphia public school teacher, was investigated over child abuse allegations in 2021 before she became the girl's foster parent, according to sources. She was never criminally charged in that earlier matter.

Malayshia was last seen alive on Oct. 22 and was not reported missing until four days later. Her body was discovered Nov. 5 in the trunk of a car near the Stonington Court Apartments in Lindenwold, New Jersey, officials said.

The executive order adds a layer of independent scrutiny to a case that has raised sharp questions about how the city screens and monitors foster placements. By mandating a review that reaches beyond the legally required Act 33 process, Parker is signaling that the city's child welfare apparatus itself will be examined for systemic failures, not just the circumstances of one child's death.