It feels like every day, there is a new story documenting the failures at the Maryland Department of Human Services. First, an audit showed that children were not receiving appropriate medical and dental care, investigations were not being completed in a timely manner and at least 280 children in DHS’s care were living virtually unsupervised in hotels. One of these children, 16-year-old Kanaiyah Ward, died of an apparent suicide after struggling with her mental health for years. In addition, DHS has been accused of not keeping proper records of child fatalities when abuse or neglect is suspected.

It would be easy to go after DHS’s leadership, as many have done . And perhaps that is the right approach. But changing leadership alone will not solve the deeply ingrained problems wit

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