ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland Department of Human Services says more children in foster care are living with relatives than before the state’s 2024 Kinship Care Law, citing gains it presented at the first Child Welfare Legislative Summit on Tuesday in Annapolis.
The department hosted the summit with House Speaker Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk and Casey Family Programs. Acting DHS Secretary Stacy L. Rodgers, who was a kinship caregiver herself, Del. Heather Bagnell, Del. Aletheia McCaskill and Del. Jamila Woods were among those quoted in the department’s release. The figures below are the department’s own and have not been independently verified.
- More than 440 more youth live with kin than before the 2024 law, as of July 2026.
- The kinship placement rate is up 46%.
- Half of children under 10 in out-of-home care now live with kin, up from 34.5% in July 2024.
- Licensed kinship caregivers rose from 25% in December 2024 to 88% in September 2026.
DHS also reported progress on hospital overstays, when children remain in hospitals after they are medically ready to leave because no placement is available. Overstays are down by as much as 65% over the past year, and the average length of an overstay has fallen nearly 60% between August and November 2026, the department said. It said it ended hotel placements in November 2025.
Other steps announced include $5 million in additional support for kinship caregivers, a new senior advisor for children and families, statewide standards for one-on-one care and the first quarterly meeting of the Advisory Council on Maryland’s System of Care for Children, Youth, and Families.
The department did not release county-level figures for Calvert, Charles or St. Mary’s counties. The Chronicle has followed the state’s efforts, including the story of a Waldorf grandmother featured in the kinship care push, DHS’s order ending hotel placements for foster children, up to $1.2 billion in contracts to end hospital overstays and new software that uncovers kin for Maryland youth.
