RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (WCBS 880) — Changes are coming to the Suffolk County's Child Protection Services after they system failed an 8-year-old boy, who froze to death after being forced to sleep in a garage overnight.
County Executive Steve Bellone said the agency failed Thomas Valva, whose father allegedly forced him to sleep in a garage overnight when temperatures dropped below freezing on Jan. 17. It was revealed multiple calls were made to the agency over the course of months, but nothing was ever done.
Since his death, CPS has come under criticism and Bellone has vowed to create changes at the agency.
On Wednesday, he followed through on the vow and proposed four pieces of legislation to help children that are being abused in Suffolk County.
“CPS will never operate the same way again,” he said.
According to WCBS 880’s Sophia Hall, one rule change would add more employees to CPS and another would ensure employees are trained better.
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He has also proposed hiring a specialized new team to investigate cases of suspected abuse against an autistic or disabled child.
“A legitimate question in this case is whether there was some implicit bias at play given the fact that this individual was a New York City police officer,” Bellone said. “It is important that our case workers have the training they need on implicit bias to understand when they are analyzing evidence, whether there is some implicit bias at work.”
He says there will be a limit on the number of cases a worker can investigate at once and if four or more calls come into CPS for a child with a disability or autism, that case will be immediately given to a supervisor.
Bellone said: “What happened to Thomas Valva can never happen again.”