NEW YORK – In the wake 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 that no child facing a similar situation. destination.

The Valva case revealed serious failures within CPS, which a grand jury found did not protect him from abuse.

“We’ve only just begun,” said Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine.

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

“There has to be transparency in the way we do our work and there has to be accountability,” Imhof said.

Among the improvements being made are better salaries, hiring new caseworkers and reducing caseloads. Also being implemented is the Blind Removal policy, which aims to ensure fair evaluations by removing identifying information during initial investigations of child abuse cases.

“Blind elimination is simply that there is no identifying information about the subjects involved in the research,” Imhof explained.

CPS employees and law enforcement will also participate in training courses on child protection and advocacy for vulnerable populations.

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

Officials hope the reforms and changes will serve as protections for at-risk children in Suffolk County.