Workers to be fired over deaths of four children

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least six child welfare workers will be fired for failing to properly address complaints about a woman’s care for her four daughters, who were later found dead in their home, the mayor said Monday.

The decomposing bodies of the girls — ages 5 to 16 — were found Wednesday when deputy U.S. marshals served an eviction notice at the rowhouse. Their mother has been charged with murder.

A social worker at the school where the oldest girl was a student tried twice in April to get city agencies to investigate.

At a news conference Monday, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty played tapes of two calls the social worker, Kathy Lopes, made after the girl, Brittany Jacks, stopped going to school in March.

Lopes called the city’s child welfare hot line and said she had visited the home, but that she was not let in by the mother, Banita Jacks. Lopes said Jacks told her she did not want Brittany going to school because she was afraid the girl would run away. Lopes reported seeing two or three younger children who also were not in school.

In a second call — this time to police — Lopes expressed frustration at being transferred among several city departments and said she was concerned about Banita Jacks’ mental state.

“It seems that the mother is suffering from some mental illness in which she is holding all the children in the home hostage,” Lopes said.