Mayor of Washington, D.C., Adrian Fenty announced he would fire at least six
child welfare workers in connection with the four dead girls who had been found
Wednesday when deputy U.S.
marshals served an eviction notice at an apartment.
The girls ages 5, 6, 11 and 16 are believed by authorities
to have been killed sometime in late spring or summer as their bodies were in
an advanced state of decomposition. The girls’ mother Banita Jack, who has been
charged with murdering her children, allegedly had been living with the corpses
for several months.
Kathy Lopes, a social worker at the school where the oldest
girl, Brittany was a student tried twice in April to raise concerns about the
family, after the girl missed the courses for 33 days in a row. According to
the tapes, which Fenty played at a news conference Monday, Lopes describes how she
visited the house, but was not allowed either to enter or to talk with the
oldest girl, although she saw her inside the house. She also saw the other
girls watching TV inside the house.
The girl’ mother further told Lopes that she would not allow
Brittany to
go to school because she was afraid that the girl might run away.
Following her visit to the house Lopes called at the Child
and Family Services Agency and after that to the police expressing her frustration
at being transferred among several departments.
She further warned the employers at the CFSA “the mother is
suffering from some mental illness and is holding all the children hostage,”
the tape said, according to Washington Post.
Lopes received Fenty’s admiration, while six employees at
the CFSA were fired due to inadequate response to the warnings sent by Lopes.
“Unfortunately, she stands out really because so many other people didn't do
their job in the way they're supposed to. The sense of urgency that she showed
should be shown in every case and every call that comes through our hot line,” Fenty
said, according to the Associated Press.
In response, Sharlynn Bobo, director of the CFSA expressed her regret for
the way the case was handled.
“We deeply regret — I deeply regret — our failures in responding effectively
and rapidly to this family,” she said.
More workers could lose their job as an investigation on the case continues,
Fenty said.
