Welfare agency rated itself as ‘acceptable’ before deaths

Published March 31, 2008 4:00am ET



Weeks before the badly decomposed bodies of four girls were found in a Southeast D.C. row house, the same child welfare agency that missed desperate calls seeking help for the girls gave itself high marks for service.

The Child and Family Service Agency’s annual Quality Service Review for 2007 gave itself “acceptable” ratings for its handling of child welfare cases. A few weeks after the report was finished — but before it was released to the public — Mayor Adrian Fenty would be accusing the agency of a catastrophic failure to protect Banita Jacks’ daughters.

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