November 13, 2026
Colleen Claggett/For PhillyVoice
During Thursday's City Council meeting, three members introduced legislation proposing hearings investigating the death of Malayshia Alford and the city's foster system.
In April 2019, former Councilmember David Oh proposed the establishment of a Special Committee on Child Separation In Philadelphia to take a closer look at the work of the Department of Human Services.
The measure, co-sponsored by current Councilmember Cindy Bass (D-8th), was initially rejected — including by Mayor Cherelle Parker, who was a council member at the time. But it was reintroduced and passed that October after the bill was amended. Seven years later, City Council members again are calling to reexamine the city's child welfare services following the death of 10-year-old Malayshia Alford, whose foster mother, Carprice Williams, has been charged with murder and related offenses.
Bass was one of three City Council members who introduced resolutions Thursday demanding for public hearings investigating the Department of Human Services' work with children with disabilities, child separation and case management. The legislation follows an executive order from Parker that called for a child welfare committee to review the foster care system and District Attorney Larry Krasner's announcement that his office is opening an independent investigation into Alford's case.
The case also is undergoing an interdisciplinary review from the Philadelphia Act 33 Team, because state law requires investigation into deaths and near-deaths in the foster system. The renewed calls to reexamine the city's child welfare system echo earlier attempts at change, but it remains to be seen whether this incident will lead to greater reform.
"I'll dare even say, along with some other folks, some heads need to roll over this," Bass said during Thursday's meeting. "This is completely unacceptable, and some folks need to be held responsible for this."
Alford was found dead in the trunk of a car in an apartment complex in Lindenwold, New Jersey, on Nov. 4 after she was reported missing by Williams on Oct. 26. She was last seen alive four days earlier, and surveillance footage allegedly shows her body being moved from her house in a bag. Medical examiners ruled her death as homicide by blunt force trauma.
Williams, a fifth grade teacher in the School District of Philadelphia, has been charged with murder, child endangerment, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and related charges.
At Thursday's City Council meeting, April McBride McGlone testified that some lawmakers and community activists have spent years calling for an overhaul to the city's foster care system. According to McGlone, who spoke during public comment, Oh requested body cameras for social workers during a committee hearing in 2022. Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. (D-4th) said earlier this week that he plans to introduce a similar proposal.
McGlone also said she contacted state Rep. Amen Brown, former Councilmembers Helen Gym and Darrell Clark, and current members Jones and Nina Ahmad (D-At-Large), among other officials, about the issues with DHS and case management.
"This could have been prevented, it could have been prevented eight years ago," McGlone said. "I was fighting for Malayshia before I even knew Malayshia."
The committee established by Bass and Oh's legislation appears to have last held hearings in 2022. The resolution Bass introduced Thursday calls for the Committee of the Whole to look into the city's Community Umbrella Agency system, which runs community-based groups that manage child welfare, and the school district's hiring practices.
Bass also compared this incident to the case of Danieal Kelly, a 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who died of starvation in 2006. Kelly's parents, Daniel and Andrea Kelly, and multiple case workers were sentenced to prison following her death.
This week, Councilmember Anthony Phillips (D-9th) proposed a measure calling for hearings on safety for children placed outside their homes. Councilmember Kendra Brooks (Working Families Party-At-Large) also introduced legislation to hold hearings in the Committee on People with Disabilities and Special Needs on the umbrella agencies and DHS' oversight of case management.
In a joint statement, Brooks and Phillips said the city has one of the highest child removal rates in the country, and that while the Child Welfare Oversight Board exists to provide feedback on the system, it has not been meeting regularly for the past three years. They added that those impacts are felt most by Black children and kids with disabilities.
"The hearings will examine how the City oversees children's safety after they are placed outside their homes, how agencies respond when concerns are raised, and what more the City can do to support families and kinship caregivers, prevent unnecessary separation, and help children return home safely whenever possible," Brooks and Phillips said.
