Two heavyweights in Suffolk government, County Executive Edward Romaine and District Attorney Raymond Tierney, have vowed to get to the bottom of how the system failed Thomas Valva, the young boy who froze to death in a garage, and make sure a tragedy like his is never repeated.
It’s personal for Romaine, whose grandson shared an East Moriches Elementary School classroom with the eight-year-old Thomas. He joined Tierney in a rare joint appearance before the county legislature, asking lawmakers to join them in pushing for a state law that would allow the district attorney to dig deeper into why repeated reports of Thomas being abused were ignored. All 18 Suffolk legislators, Republican and Democrat, signed a letter urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to support the law change.
The Center Moriches boy died after his father locked him and his brother in an unheated garage, and they were forced to sleep on a concrete floor. Temperatures dropped to 19 degrees, and in the morning, the hyperthermic boy was washed off by his father with an outdoor hose. He died shortly after, and the father, former New York City police officer Michael Valva, and his fiancée Angela Pollina, are serving 25 years to life for killing the child.
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| Thomas Valva Facebook |
“The current laws protect the wrong people and hamper the ability for law enforcement and prosecutors to have a full understanding of a CPS case,” Tierney said. “It is incomprehensible and defies logic that these laws can have such a detrimental impact on investigating these cases.”
“It is clear that the system failed Thomas Valva, and immediate change is needed to protect more children and other victims of abuse in this state,” said Romaine. “Every level of government must come together and affect change.”
A few days prior to the release of the grand jury report, Frances Pierre, the CPS director who came in under the administration of Steve Bellone, resigned. Romaine is interviewing to fill that seat, as well as Social Services director.
“In order to protect future children who sadly find themselves in the DSS system, the DA and any grand jury must have access to all claims of child abuse to ensure we’ll never face another tragedy like Thomas Valva,” said Legislator Catherine Stark, one of the county lawmakers who signed the letter to Hochul.
The letter also asks the governor to convene task forces to review confidentiality laws and the Civil Service requirements for caseworkers, two recommendations made by the grand jury. The panel also suggested that the county hire more personnel to handle the CPS caseload, change Suffolk’s administrative code to require a supervisor to review cases when three or more abuse reports are made, and open a dedicated hotline for abuse complaints and allow residents to connect directly to caseworkers.
“There has to be accountability, transparency,” Romaine said. “We’re not saying open the records for the general public. We're saying open the records if there's a valid concern from law enforcement.”
In response to the grand jury report, Senator Dean Murray drafted a bill amending the state’s Social Services law to allow investigators access to CPS records. “What I'm introducing is a common sense, middle ground solution that allows those investigating abuse or, God forbid, the death of a child to have access to all of the information they need,” said Murray, who stressed that the bill would not allow unfounded records to be available to the general public. “Unfortunately, you have people that use the CPS system as weapons against each other in divorce cases, custody cases, even neighbors fighting each other,” the Senator noted.
Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano said he would sign onto the bill on his side of the legislature. “One of our most important responsibilities as lawmakers is ensuring the health and safety of the public, especially children, are protected,” DeStefano noted.
Another signatory to the Hochul letter was Legislator Nick Caracappa, who stated: “In light of the recent grand jury report, there clearly needs to be amendments made to the current process in order to get critical information to the DA, grand jury, and ultimately the judge and jury that will review all the evidence and render the appropriate justice each respective case deserves.” The legislator added: “This is not about politics; this is about people. We should all learn from this unfortunate situation and act as elected officials should by making every effort to correct this terrible wrong. I truly believe collectively, we can achieve this objective.”