U.S.

Girls' Deaths Spark D.C. Agency Firings

January 14, 2008 / 1:24 PM EST / CBS/AP

At least six city employees will be terminated for improperly handling concerns about a woman's care for her four daughters, who were later found dead in their home, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said Monday.

The decomposing bodies of the girls - ages 5 to 17 - were found Wednesday when deputy U.S. marshals served an eviction notice at the apartment.

Kathy Lopes, a social worker at the school where the oldest girl was a student, tried twice in April to raise the alarm about the family. At a news conference Monday, Fenty played tapes of two calls she made after Brittany Jacks stopped coming to school to try to get city agencies to investigate.

Lopes describes visiting the house, but not being let in by the mother, Banita Jacks. She said Jacks told her she did not want Brittany going to school because she was afraid she would run away. She reported seeing two or three younger children, who also were not in school.

In a follow-up call, Lopes expresses frustration at being transferred among several departments.

"It appears the mother is suffering from some mental illness and is holding all the children hostage," she says on the tape.

A Child and Family Services social worker made at least two subsequent visits to Jacks's rowhouse, in the 4200 block of Sixth Street SE but no one answered the door either time.

Less than three weeks later, Child and Family Services staffers closed the case, after receiving an unconfirmed report that the Jacks family might have moved to Maryland to live with relatives, reports the Washington Post.

The six employees who are being terminated work for the District of Columbia's Child and Family Services Agency. More workers could lose their jobs as an investigation continues, Fenty said.

Fenty praised Lopes, who works at the Booker T. Washington Public Charter School.

"Unfortunately, she stands out really because so many other people didn't do their job in the way they're supposed to," Fenty said. "The sense of urgency that she showed should be shown in every case and every call that comes through our hot line."

The social worker's call was not the first time someone had tried to alert city officials about the family's situation.

In July 2006, a nurse who had been treating the father of Jacks' youngest two daughters at George Washington Hospital contacted the Child and Family Services hotline to say the family was living in a van and that both parents were struggling with substance abuse. The nurse couldn't provide an address for the family so social workers did not follow up.

Jacks has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder. She told investigators that the children were possessed by demons and died in their sleep.

Authorities have not yet determined when the girls died, but say it was at least 15 days before they were found. Jacks' statement to police indicated they had been dead for months.

The medical examiner's office has said there is evidence that Brittany Jacks, 17, had been stabbed and that Tatianna Jacks, 11; N'Kiah Fogle, 6; and Aja Fogle, 5, had markings on their necks and other signs of trauma.