Carprice Williams — the 34-year-old foster mother and Philadelphia public school teacher charged Thursday with murdering a 10-year-old girl in her care — so severely abused another child five years ago that state authorities recommended she never be a foster parent again, according to a lawsuit settled out of court this year.
In the earlier incident, a 4-year-old girl who had lived in Williams’ West Philadelphia home for six months was hospitalized and nearly died from a brain hemorrhage and severe malnutrition, according to court records. It was 2021, four years before Malayshia Alford was placed in his care.
Police sources say Williams abused Malayshia before killing her last week and leaving her body in the trunk of a car later found in Lindenwold. His death marked the tragic end to a 10-day search that involved dozens of police officers, FBI agents and community members desperate to find the child in a case that raised concerns within the city’s child welfare system.
Now, newly discovered court records are raising questions about why Malaysia was placed in Williams’ care in the first place.
“We’re trying to understand how this could have happened,” said Nadeem Bezar, an attorney with Kline & Specter, who represents Malayshia’s estate.
Malayshia’s care was overseen by Catholic Community Services, a social work agency contracted by the city’s child welfare agency, according to a state spokesperson.
Bezar, in an interview Friday, said he investigated the circumstances under which Malayshia was taken into care before her death, after the state Department of Human Services discovered she had been physically and sexually assaulted at another foster home in Philadelphia. It was this prior abuse, he said, that led to her being placed in Williams’ care.
Officials with the Philadelphia Department of Human Services declined to comment Friday.
A community liaison with Catholic Community Services did not return messages seeking comment.
Williams had a documented history of problems with children, according to the Bezar Firm’s 2024 lawsuit against Tabor Children’s Services, another social work group hired by the city. But Williams appealed those findings and the reported report of child abuse was expunged, a state official said Friday.
Documents filed in the case detailed the treatment of two sisters who were placed in foster care at 547 N. Simpson St., Williams’ address. The complaint, filed on behalf of the youngest daughter, who was 4 at the time of the abuse, does not name Williams, but Bezar confirmed she was the adoptive mother involved.
Attempts to reach Tabor Child Services were unsuccessful Friday evening. In court filings, the agency said the girl’s harm was not her fault, even though she paid $2 million to settle the case.
The 4-year-old girl and her sister were placed in Williams’ care in June 2020, according to the suit.
Then, in January 2021, Williams brought the 4-year-old girl to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, claiming she heard a loud noise and found the girl collapsed on the floor upstairs.
The attending physician diagnosed the girl with malnutrition, head trauma, facial scratches and marks indicating she had been hit with an object.
The doctor called the incident “near-death,” a certification that is prompting state and city officials to reexamine the matter.
The girl later said the foster mother grabbed her braids and slammed her head against the kitchen floor, beat her with a belt and punched her in the face until her mouth bled, according to the lawsuit. The complaint also said Williams forced the girl to squat against a wall for extended periods of time and that the foster mother tried to prevent the girl’s sibling from revealing the abuse.
The Pennsylvania Department of Social Services later discovered that the adoptive mother had abused the girl and her brother, according to the lawsuit. A panel of city and state officials reviewed the case, according to the complaint, and recommended that Williams “never be used as a foster parent for other children in the future.”
Catholic Social Services and Tabor operated as Community Based Agencies (CUAs), contracted by the Philadelphia Child Welfare Agency to ensure the safety of children in care.
Cathleen Palm, who heads the advocacy group Center for Children’s Justice, said if Malaysia was placed in the home of a woman with a documented history of child abuse, it raised questions about DHS safeguards.
“If (the near-death review panel) came away with a recommendation that she should never be a foster parent, it’s difficult to understand how she could ever become a foster parent again,” she said.
She also questioned whether some information had been shared with the Philadelphia school district, where Williams worked as a teacher.
A school district spokesperson declined to comment on personnel matters but said the district was heartbroken by Malayshia’s death.
Malayshia was placed with Williams last summer, a year after the lawsuit was filed. According to a law enforcement source who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, she was the only foster child in the home, which she shared with Williams’ 4-year-old biological son.
On October 26, Williams reported Malaysia missing. She gave her relatives conflicting accounts of the child’s last whereabouts, authorities said, and police later discovered that the girl had not attended school in previous days. Her body was found 10 days later in the trunk of a car in Lindenwold Wednesday evening.
Police recovered video that appeared to show that early on the morning of Oct. 26, a man carried Malayshia’s body out of the back of Williams’ home in a large bag that had been used to hold a Christmas tree, a police source said.
Williams was charged with murder, abuse of a corpse, endangering the welfare of children and related crimes.
The Defender Association of Philadelphia, which represents Williams, declined to comment Friday.
Pink and purple balloons, teddy bears and prayer candles covered the lawn outside the West Philadelphia townhouse Friday morning.
Mourners arrived by car, quickly placing a sign of remembrance in front of the house on North Simpson Street before speeding away. Others stood in the rain, holding umbrellas and staring in disbelief.
“The Ministry of Social Services must take responsibility,” said Daneika Overby, a relative of Malayshia. “What happened here was a tragedy.”
Overby’s voice rose with frustration as she listed the family members who would have been willing to take Malayshia in and keep her safe. “There are other people in this family. It’s a loving family.”
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, during an unrelated news conference Friday, declined to comment on the details of the case but said Malayshia’s death had “shaken our city to its core.”
Gabriel Li, secretary-treasurer of AFSCME Local 2187 DC47, which represents Philadelphia DHS workers, said there are many unanswered questions about the supervision that was provided. “You’re supposed to see a 10-year-old at least once a month, so how can you not know what’s going on?
Li said he was the city social worker who removed Malayshia from her parents’ home in 2021. He said the fact that she was in foster care for so many years is another sign that the system is broken.
City Councilwoman Nina Ahmad, who worked on a ballot measure to create a child welfare oversight board, said the case raises questions about the city’s patchwork of CUA services.
“We need to look at the whole CUA system and how it works,” she said. “We need a lot more oversight.”
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