Governor Larry Hogan signed two bills into law on Tuesday, that according to local advocates could have helped to prevent the deaths of two defenseless Frederick County residents. One bill inaugurated a state alliance that will work to see that people with developmental and intellectual disabilities are involved in law enforcement training, and the second, a foster care reform bill, will give social services officials across the state more power to shield children from abusive biological parents. The Ethan Saylor Alliance for Self-Advocates as Educators in the Maryland Department of Disabilities was named for a 26-year-old New Market resident (with Down Syndrome) who passed away on January 12, 2013 during a skirmish with off-duty Frederick County sheriff’s deputies. Saylor died of asphyxiation after the deputies tried to forcibly remove him from a Maryland movie theater. The cause of death was asphyxiation after the deputies attempted to remove him from a movie theater.
The foster care reform law, Anayah’s Law, is named for Anayah Williams, a Frederick County toddler who died in March 2014, just weeks after she left the foster care system and returned to her biological parents’ custody. Her father awaits trial on charges of first-degree murder, child abuse resulting in death and assault. The mother was charged with failing to protect Anayah and seek medical treatment for her. She pleaded guilty to first-degree child abuse culminating in death in April and was sentenced to two decades in prison. Both bills passed after just one 90-day legislative assembly. The local senators and delegates who sponsored the bills said that the fact that they passed after one session should be celebrated, but it is unfortunate that it took these deaths to ameliorate the state’s laws. Delegate Kathy Afzali, a sponsor of Anayah’s Law, stated that her biggest concern is that it does not take tragic events to see change in the future.
