District of Columbia child welfare officials were asked to look into the disappearances from local schools of four sisters months before their bodies were found in a ramshackle Southeast home Wednesday.

But a spokeswoman for child welfare services acknowledged, “We lost them.”

The girls, whose ages ranged from 5 to 18 years old, were found when federal marshals came to evict them and their mother, Banita Jacks, 33, from the home at 4249 Sixth St. SE.

But child welfare officials had been to the house in the spring after the oldest girl’s school, Booker T. Washington High School, reported her truant, D.C. Child and Family Services Agency spokeswoman Mindy Good told The Examiner.

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“We made diligent attempts to make contact with these people on several occasions,” Good said. “We were given every indication that they had vacated the premises.”

Good said the report on the family’s apparent disappearance was routine, but she refused to provide a copy of it.

Police continued questioning Jacks on Wednesday night. City officials were scrambling to understand how they had missed the wandering family.

“We need to know if the District did all it could to exercise its responsibility to protect these children after they knew they were at risk,” said District Council member Tommy Wells, D-Ward 6, in announcing that he would convene hearings into the matter next week.

Nona Richardson, spokeswoman for the D.C. Public Charter School Board, said the three younger sisters had stopped attending Meridian Public Charter School in early March 2007. A school employee who visited the home was told by the mother that the children would be home-schooled, Richardson said.

Staff writer Dena Levitz contributed to this story.

Final traces

Agencies who looked into four girls’ disappearances:

» Booker T. Washington High School: Reported oldest girl truant

» D.C. Child and Family Services Agency: Investigated truancy

» Meridian Public Charter School: Looked after younger sisters

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com

bmyers@dcexaminer.com