Angela Fernandez never expected to be raising an 11-year-old again, but that is exactly the position she found herself in after her only daughter, Ashley Marie Lewis, died unexpectedly on August 3 at just 31 years old. Now Fernandez is caring for her grandson, Karter, while trying to give the boy a stable place to land.
Lewis, born September 6, 1994, would have turned 32 just over a month after her death, according to DailyVoice.com. She left behind her son, Karter, who is now in his grandmother's care as she becomes responsible for raising him. Fernandez this week launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover what she describes as both immediate and longer-term needs for her grandson, including clothes, food, school supplies, transportation, household costs, and counseling.
In her own words on the fundraiser, Fernandez wrote that she has been managing the expenses surrounding her daughter's passing while simultaneously preparing her home and life to care for Karter. She said the contributions raised will ease the family's financial strain and provide her grandson with security and stability during an incredibly difficult transition. Fernandez said she is focused above all on giving Karter a stable, loving home as he begins this new chapter without his mother.
A Legal Path Without the Courts
Fernandez's situation reflects an arrangement that plays out quietly across Maryland every year: a grandparent stepping in without going through the foster care system. Maryland law permits informal kinship care arrangements to be made privately, without social services supervision or formal court intervention, according to The Maryland People's Law Library.
That flexibility matters immediately for a child like Karter, since Maryland regulations allow relative caregivers in informal kinship arrangements to enroll children in public school using a sworn affidavit that verifies the informal kinship-care relationship. This can ease one major source of stress during an already chaotic period.
Local and State Resources for Relative Caregivers
Montgomery County offers direct support for families in Fernandez's position. The county's Department of Health and Human Services operates a dedicated Kinship Navigator hotline at 240-773-8270, while information about health-care affidavits and benefits is available to informal relative caregivers. Caregivers related by blood or marriage can also apply for Temporary Cash Assistance Child-Only grants through Maryland Benefits, which provide monthly financial aid based solely on the child's needs regardless of the caregiver's household income, per the Maryland Department of Human Services.
A Maryland Department of Human Services partnership with Binti on family-finding efforts was announced in February 2026. That effort followed a kinship care law that took effect October 1, 2024, prioritizing placement with family members over formal foster care. After October 1, 2024, nearly half of Maryland children in out-of-home care were placed with relatives.
A Widespread but Often Invisible Arrangement
Fernandez's story fits into a much larger national pattern that mostly unfolds outside official channels. For every one child raised by relatives within the formal foster care system nationwide, 19 children are raised by kin in informal arrangements like this one, according to an October 2025 report from Generations United. That same report found that grandparents and other relative caregivers save U.S. taxpayers an estimated $10.5 billion annually by keeping children out of state foster systems.
A report cited by Legis1 says that 2.6 million children live in kinship-care arrangements, according to Legis1. Fernandez, caring for her grandson, illustrates how relatives may take on caregiving roles.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, roughly 32.7% of grandparents living with their grandchildren under the age of 18 were responsible for their care.
For grieving grandfamilies navigating both emotional loss and financial strain, Maryland offers resources for relative caregivers, including information about health-care affidavits and benefits. Howard County allocated $122,000 to a Kinship Care and Family Finder pilot, according to Howard County's kinship care funding. For now, Fernandez's focus remains close to home: keeping Karter fed, in school, supported through counseling, and surrounded by the stability she says he needs most.
