Suffolk County is imposing wide-ranging changes to its child protective services (CPS) unit following the death of eight-year-old Thomas Valva.
Thomas froze to death after his father, NYPD officer Michael Valva, forced him to sleep in a freezing garage in Center Moriches in January 2020. Thomas had been living with Michael and his fiancée, Angelina Pollina, at the time of his death.
A subsequent investigation found that the eight-year-old boy was not given blankets or pillows by his father on the night he was made to sleep in the garage. The temperature that night was just 19 degrees, per ABC 7 Eyewitness News.
Failure To Address Child Abuse Reports
It was also discovered that the boy's mother, Justyna Zubko-Valva, had complained to authorities for years about the abuse Thomas and her other two sons were suffering from Michael and Angelina.
"I told the judges, if you're not going to remove my children, they're going to die," she said in a court appearance.
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Thomas' teachers had also reported suspected child abuse around 11 times. Some reports noted that the boy came to school wearing urine-soaked clothing and was eating crumbs off the floor. He also had bruises.
The Suffolk County's CPS unit deemed all the reports unfounded, per CBS News, citing findings from a grand jury investigation into the handling of the case.
Michael and Angelina were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Justyna is currently suing the county for $200 million.
Changes to Suffolk County's Child Protective Services
On Thursday, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine announced that they are making sweeping changes to the CPS, including allowing the unsealing of records for law enforcement, raising the wages of its workers, and hiring new case workers. Additionally, they will cut down the caseloads of workers from 15 to 12.
The county is also now complying with a directive to review all child abuse cases without bias.
"We all have unconscious stereotypes in our minds and they have to be eliminated in Child Protective Services cases," county Commissioner of Social Services Dr. John Imhof said.
Lastly, the county will hold its first-ever child conference to bring together caseworkers, judges, and law enforcement and improve collaboration between departments to prevent future tragedies. The keynote speaker is expected to be Katie Beers, a child who was abused and kidnapped in the 1990s.
