Suffolk County overhauls Child Protective Services after death of 8 y/o Thomas Valva

NEW YORK - In the aftermath of the heartbreaking death of 8-year-old Thomas Valva, who froze to death in 2020 after being forced to sleep in an unheated garage, Suffolk County is instituting major changes within its Child Protective Services to ensure no child faces a similar fate.

Valva's case revealed severe failures within CPS, which a grand jury found did not protect him from abuse.

"We've only just started," said Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine.

Now, the county has appointed John Imhof as the new commissioner for the Department of Social Services.

"There has to be transparency in the way we conduct our work, and there has to be accountability," said Imhof.

Better pay, hiring new case workers and decreasing the caseload are among the improvements being made. Also being implemented is the Blind Removal policy, aims to ensure fair assessments by removing identifying information during initial investigations of child abuse cases.

"The blind removal simply is that there's no identifying information whatsoever about the subjects involved in the investigation," Imhof explained.

CPS employees and law enforcement will also take part in training courses on child protection and advocating for vulnerable populations.

Suffolk County officials are advocating for legislation in Albany that would allow law enforcement access to sealed records of abuse allegations. Currently, if a report is deemed "unfounded," it is sealed and inaccessible, which limits CPS and law enforcement's ability to assess patterns and enforce best practices.