Thomas Valva's death prompts overhaul of Suffolk County's Child Protective Services. Here's what's changing.
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. -- Four years after the heartbreaking death of 8-year-old Thomas Valva, change is coming to the Suffolk County department blamed for ignoring repeated reports of abuse.
The boy with autism was forced to sleep in a freezing garage and died of hypothermia. HIs father and his fiancé forced him to sleep in the in 19-degree weather as a punishment for bedwetting.
Reports of abuse initially deemed unfounded, sealed
Teachers had reported suspected abuse 11 times. Thomas was said to have come to school hungry in urine-soaked clothing, eating crumbs off the floor, with suspicious bruises. All of those reports were deemed unfounded by Child Protective Services, and therefore were sealed.
"It certainly hampered the investigation and the welfare of the children, which tragically resulted in the death of Thomas," Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.
Thomas and his brother were coached to lie amid a bitter divorce. A scathing grand jury report found abuse was hidden in the secretive child protective system with overloaded and underpaid case workers.
Changes coming to Child Protective Services
His mother vowed from the start that his death would not be in vain, and on Thursday, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine emotionally announced transformational change at Child Protective Services.
"He lived in my community. He sat next to my grandson in elementary school, and we had to tell my grandson he was not coming back," Romaine said.
Among the changes coming: the unsealing of records at least for law enforcement, pay raises and new hires.
"It was so profoundly important to all of us in government that that report not sit stagnant on a shelf someplace," Suffolk County Legislator Trish Bergin said.
"We're trying to cut down to 12. We have caseloads up at 15. We need to hire more people and I am committed to doing this," Romaine said.
Suffolk is also now complying with the directive to review abuse cases without bias. Valva's father was a police officer.
"We all have unconscious stereotypes in our minds and they have to be eliminated in Child Protective Services cases," Suffolk County Commissioner of Social Services Dr. John Imhof said.
Another change coming to the department is better collaboration to prevent these types of tragedies. On Friday, there will be a first-ever child conference bringing together caseworkers, judges and law enforcement. The keynote speaker will be Katie Beers, who was abused and kidnapped in Suffolk County in the 1990s. Her case also fell through the cracks.
The goal is to make the Valva case, like the Beers case, a turning point.
