The medical examiner ruled that 14-month-old foster child Dereon Kai Booze died of dehydration in a homicide, according to The Baltimore Sun. The finding follows reports that a caregiver in Upper Marlboro did not seek medical attention as Kai became ill and brings possible criminal charges into a case involving a child placed across the D.C.-Maryland border.
Kai, as he was known to the family raising him, died on February 9 while staying at a licensed respite home in Prince George's County, according to reporting by the Baltimore Sun. He had been a foster child in the District of Columbia's child welfare system but was placed with a Maryland foster parent, Katy Welter of Hyattsville, who had cared for him since he was just 12 days old and was in the process of adopting him, as noted by The Baltimore Sun. Welter was in the process of adopting him when she left him in the respite home while she was out of town in February, according to WBFF FOX 45. She is now working with police and social services, per the same account, to seek answers in his death.
The Prince George's County Department of Social Services determined that the caregiver was negligent, and the Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office is investigating the death for possible criminal charges, The Baltimore Sun reported. The caregiver, who lives in Upper Marlboro, had been licensed to care for Kai while Welter was away. Because Kai was in the custody of D.C.'s Child and Family Services Agency but placed with a foster parent in Maryland, the case involved agencies in both jurisdictions.
A System Already Under Legislative Scrutiny
Kai's death arrives as Maryland's foster care system faces its most intense reform push in years, prompted by the September 2025 death of 16-year-old foster girl Kanaiyah Ward. Ward, who was supposed to be watched around the clock by chaperones under contract to the state, was found dead by suicide in a Baltimore hotel room. A Maryland Department of Human Services investigation released in January disclosed that Ward died of a Benadryl overdose after her assigned contracted chaperone worked a 53-hour continuous shift amid severe staffing shortages, according to CBS News.
Ward's death spurred the Maryland General Assembly to pass two foster care reform measures, one of them known as Kanaiyah's Law. Governor Wes Moore signed the legislation on April 28, and it prohibits housing foster youth in unlicensed temporary settings such as hotels and office buildings, creates a State Foster Youth Ombudsman, and expands background checks for guardians, according to the bill text filed with the Maryland General Assembly. Child welfare advocates and legal aid groups had pushed for the independent ombudsman role, according to Maryland Legal Aid.
Hotel Placements Ended, But Questions Persist
Before the statutory ban took effect, Maryland's Department of Human Services had placed foster children in hotel rooms, officially ending the practice statewide in November 2025 after public outcry over Ward's death, Hoodline previously reported. The fallout also reached the agency's top leadership: the secretary resigned, and an acting secretary was appointed.
Kai's case did not involve a hotel or an unlicensed setting — he was staying at a facility that was licensed for his care — so it falls outside the reforms specifically targeting hotel placements. The circumstances nevertheless raise questions about how responsibility and oversight operate when a child in D.C. custody is placed in Maryland. CFSA's interstate-placement policy says the agency continues to maintain responsibility for a child throughout an interstate placement, while also noting that the 2023 D.C.-Maryland Border Agreement eliminates the need for ICPC referrals for foster-care placements between the two jurisdictions.
What the placement rules say
According to the District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency's January 2026 policy, CFSA remains responsible for a child for the duration of an interstate placement. The policy explains the placement process but does not provide a count of how many children in D.C. foster care are placed outside the District. Maryland's licensing guidance sets baseline requirements for resource parents: According to the Maryland Department of Human Services, they must pass background clearances and provide homes that meet fire, health and safety standards.
A Broader Pattern of Repeat Contact
The case also lands amid wider scrutiny of both states' child welfare data. Federal child welfare figures submitted by Maryland included child abuse and neglect fatalities in Fiscal Year 2023, according to the Baltimore Banner. Separately, Maryland's child-fatality data also faced scrutiny in 2025. D.C. child welfare cases involving prior contact with child protective services have also drawn scrutiny, per Child Welfare Monitor DC.
Whether the Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office will file criminal charges in Kai's death remains an open question. For now, the medical examiner's homicide ruling is the clearest public finding in a case that has raised questions about how two neighboring child-welfare systems coordinate care when a child is placed across state lines.
