I read this Maryland audit with grief and anger that feels all too familiar. The very people assigned to guard the vulnerable became their threat. Children were placed in homes with registered sex offenders. A foster worker had once been convicted of assaulting a child. Another staff member had a murder conviction. Children went years without even a doctor’s visit. Some were warehoused in hotels, left with strangers instead of family.
This isn’t just bureaucratic failure—it’s betrayal. For an orphaned heart, betrayal cuts deeper than neglect. To be unseen is one thing. To be placed in the arms of danger by those who promised protection—that is abandonment multiplied.
Systems will scramble now to issue fixes and apologies. I’ve seen it dozens of times before. But if we are serious about justice, we must build care that is not transactional but relational, not temporary but healing. And for the children’s sake, we must place competent, accountable people in charge.
Because every child deserves more than safety on paper. They deserve to be seen. They deserve to be safe. They deserve to be loved.
