Lawmakers Want 'Backwards Law' Changed After Valva Grand Jury Report

CENTER MORICHES, NY — Lawmakers rallied for change this week after a grand jury report revealed the explosive news that, due to a "backwards law," no charges could be filed against Child Protective Services in the death of Thomas Valva.

Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, District Attorney Ray Tierney and members of the Suffolk County Legislature, at a monthly meeting of the legislature, agreed to send a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and New York State Attorney General Letitia James requesting the State Legislature reform the New York State Social Services Laws to enable investigators to have access to "unfounded" reports in CPS cases.

The request comes after a the results of a special grand jury report were revealed last week, regarding the handling of the case involving Thomas, 8, who died of hypothermia in 2020 after being forced to sleep in his fathe's frigid Center Moriches garage on a 19-degee night.

Thomas’s father, ex-NYPD Officer Michael Valva, and his then-fiancé Angela Pollina were each sentenced to 25 years to life in Thomas' death.

There were 11 reports made to Suffolk County's Child Protective Services department about the abuse Thomas, 8, and his brother were enduring at home, Tierney said at a press conference unveiling a grand jury report Thursday.

CPS received 11 reports of the boys coming to school soaked in urine, freezing cold, so starved that they scoured the floors and the garbage cans at school for crumbs, he added.

But, despite the repeated and urgent "flood of calls" and cries for help, no help ever came for Thomas and his brother — and, due to what he deemed broken New York State laws, the CPS records of Thomas' reported abuse remain sealed, with no criminal charges filed against CPS workers, no firings, no disciplinary action, Tierney said — and even some promotions reported.

The New York State Social Services Law prohibits certain “unfounded” information about ongoing CPS cases, Tierney said.

"We must do all we can to protect children who may be victims of abuse in this state," said Romaine. "Every level of government must come together and affect change, and we are asking the state to address this issue in the name of Thomas and all other children who may be under the care of CPS across New York State."

"I would like to thank our Suffolk County legislators for paying careful attention to the grand jury’s recommendations and acting on behalf of Suffolk County to begin the process of putting those recommendations into effect," said Tierney. "We must protect our children by ensuring that they are properly safeguarded."

"We are working together to urge you to incorporate the grand jury’s recommendations to dramatically change the trajectory of Child Protective Services for the better," said Suffolk County Legislator Trish Bergin. "It is critical to guarantee the safety of all of our children and not allow another helpless child to perish when there are clear solutions to repair a broken system."

On Thursday, April 4, almost four years and four months from the day that Thomas died, all of those who loved him and fought for him — his teachers, his principal, his school psychologist — gathered as they have for years, trying to find justice for a little boy who suffered unimaginable abuse.

Kerriann Kelly, who advocated for him tirelessly during both the trials of Michael Valva, Thomas Valva's ex-NYPD officer father and Angela Pollina, Valva's former fiance — attended the press event, as did her trial team. All there, honoring to honor their vows never, ever to forget a little boy whose death touched lives the world over.

On Thursday, Tierney released the findings of a 70-page grand jury report that contained more than 20 recommendations of changes that need to be made so no other child other dies, alone and unheard, despite repeated cries from trained professionals to Suffolk County Child Protective Services for help.

Thomas's death followed repeated complaints made to Child Protective Services by Thomas’ teachers and staff at East Moriches Elementary School over the course of almost two years, Tierney said.

A special grand jury was empaneled and dozens of witnesses came forward over the course of six months, Tierney said.

"Unfortunately, the grand jury’s investigation was stymied by current New York State law which allows CPS supervisors and bosses to suppress repeated reports of abuse that they deem to be 'unfounded,'" Tierney said. "The statute allows these materials to be hidden from public scrutiny, law enforcement, and even from a grand jury investigating the death of a child. This backwards law must be changed."

He added: "The system we currently have to protect our children is a recipe for disaster. It is unconscionable that even in a case such as this, no one, not even a District Attorney, Superior Court Judge, or state advisory board can obtain prior reports that CPS has arbitrarily and erroneously deemed 'unfounded.' The 75-page grand jury report released today highlights the systematic failures of the current Child Protective Services system and recommends local, as well as state-wide, common-sense changes to ensure that incompetence and apathy are not protected, and a tragedy like the death of Thomas Valva does not happen again."

Speaking with the media, Tierney said: "The death of a child is always an unspeakable tragedy." The grand jury was empaneled, he said, "to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Over six months, the grand jury head from 27 witnesses and viewed thousands of pages of documents, Tierney said.

In April, 2023 Angela Pollina was sentenced to 25 years to life after being convicted of murder in Thomas' death. She was also sentenced to a year each for the other four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. All sentences will run consecutively.

In 2022, former NYPD Officer Michael Valva also received the maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison for the death of his son. Valva, 45, was convicted of murder and endangering the welfare of a child.

Valva and Pollina were arrested Jan. 24, 2020.

"They are both doing 25 years to life in prison, deservedly so," Tierney said.

The DA said, due to the sealed files, the testimony of the elementary school staff was critical. "But for them, much of what happened in this case would have been lost to history. Through them, we learned the incredibly tragic story of Thomas Valva. I thank them for their advocacy, the love and support they gave those children. It's inspiring. I thank God they were there."

The educators and staff at East Moriches Elementary School, he said, "consistently sounded the alarm" as Thomas and his brother were sent to school filthy and cold, hungry and beaten. The teachers cried for help when Thomas' brother lost 20 lbs. in one year and when Thomas was bruised after his father threw a backpack at him, the DA said.

Tierney also thanked the homicide investigators and the trial staff for their dedication and hard work.

Despite the 11 reports made to CPS from September, 2017 to 2020, when Thomas died, made by professional, trained mandatory repoters, 10 of the 11 were deemed as "unfounded"; only one was. marked "indicated," meaning that the majority of records were sealed and unavailable to the DA or grand jury for review, Tierney said.

If a report is deemed "unfounded, it simply disappears," Tierney said. "We have no idea why CPS deemed them unfounded, no idea what, if any, steps they took, who they interviewed. This case was effectively thwarted simply because those reports were deemed unfounded. CPS shed no light. CPS was no help."

He added: "Anyone can see that CPS should have intervened. If CPS had done its job, Thomas Valva would still be alive today."

Tierney also said school staffers were told by CPS that multiple reported canceled one another out.

Despite reports of corporal punishment and confirmation from Thomas of the abuse, "incredibly" the reports were deeemed unfounded, Tierney said. And, he added, when CPS investigated, the boys were terrified of repercussions at home.

Tierney discussed evidence uncovered at trial, of text threats Michael Valva sent, promising to "beat them until they bleed" and later, videos showing him punching the boys in the garage.

A final report which came out after Thomas died, had CPS indicating abuse, Tierney said. "That is the definition of too little, too late," he said.

Tierney also pointed out, although state law allows for a mitigation process, allowing unfounded reports to be unsealed in the case where something "compelling happens," in Thomas' case, that did not happen. The records remain sealed, to this day.

"We simply do not know what went wrong here," he said.

The grand jury made a series of recommendations, including that the New York State Legislature amend social services law to allow the unsealing and disclosure of unfounded CPS reports to the DA and grand jury in the event of an investigation of abuse or death of a child.

"We simply cannot allow these reports to remain hidden," Tierney said. He did say that there is a balancing act of protecting those who have been exonerated and the welfare of children.

- The grand jury also recommended changes to child advocacy procedure, establishing and providing funding for best-practices Child Advocacy Centers in Suffolk County that can house all members of Suffolk County's multi-disciplinary teams in one building in order to facilitate the sharing of information between and among those member agencies, and improve the relationships and understanding between and among those agencies, which will lead to more effective and efficient joint investigations, and minimize the trauma to abused and maltreated children during the investigative process.

- The Suffolk County Legislature must also, Tierney said, by way of a resolution amend the Suffolk County administrative code to require that when Child Protective Services is in receipt of three or more reports related to one case from any mandated reporter, the case must be immediately reviewed by a casework supervisor.

- In addition, the grand jury also recommended that the governor should form a task force to review all the confidentiality laws and rules regarding CPS investigations, which should include examining whether more information sharing with mandatory reporters would further the investigative process without also compromising a subject's right to confidentiality.

- The governor, the grand jury said, should form a task force to review the feasibility of extending the waiver of the civil service examination for new Child Protective Services caseworkers beyond the current expiration date of December 2024, or perhaps eliminating the test altogether for new Child Protective Services caseworkers, because it does not affect the job responsibilities of a caseworker.

- The Suffolk County Executive, the grand jury said, should create a task force to determine the feasibility of creating and/or providing funding for a Suffolk County Training Academy for Child Protective Service caseworkers to better address the patterns and needs peculiar to Suffolk County, modeled after the one created for Administration for Children Services in New York City; the hiring of retired police officers as investigative consultants by the Suffolk County Department of Social Services, as the Administration for Children Services has done in New York City, to help caseworkers gather information and make safety assessments, especially in cases where there are guns or gang activity in the home, or where a police officer or corrections officer are the alleged subjects of the report of child abuse or maltreatment.

- Suffolk County Department of Social Services employees should be provided, the grand jury said, with an employee assistance program, like the one currently in place for the Suffolk County Police Department, which would make mental health professionals available to those dealing with vicarious trauma who wanted to consult with a mental health professional.

- In addition, they said, a dedicated hotline should be created for mandated reporters to call to assist in connecting the mandated reporter with the person at Child Protective Services assigned to a case, "and which would not only facilitate communication between Child Protective Services and mandated reporters, and not only help to identify patterns and trends regarding the types of calls being received, but the office would also hold Child Protective Services leadership accountable for addressing the concerns of mandated reporters once they have received a triggered alert."

- There should also be an increase in the number of office assistants for Child Protective Services, the report said.

- The grand jury recommended that the Suffolk County Department of Social Services needs to create a better-defined disciplinary process, with a better-defined human resources department, instead of the current process, which involves one person making all the disciplinary decisions.

- Joint trainings involving Child Protective Services, the Suffolk County Police Department,the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, and the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office,should be instituted, as such trainings would not only enhance the skills and knowledge of thecaseworkers investigating abuse cases, but it would also foster better working relationships among the participants in the training, the grand jury said.

- In addition, Special Victims Unit detectives, who have forensic interview training, and who currently only investigate cases involving children under the age of 13, should also investigate cases involving children between the ages of 13 and 17, so that those children would be better able to provide information to the interviewer with a level of confidence, security, and safety that would increase the likelihood of a just outcome in those cases, the report said.

"The death of Thomas Valva is an enduring stain on Suffolk County, and the grand jury report unveiled today by District Attorney Tierney underscores the failure of the prior administration’s policies and the leadership of Suffolk CPS to take real action that could have saved a child’s life and protected an untold number of others," said Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine. "We did not need a grand jury report to know that Suffolk County failed Thomas Valva. Thomas deserved better, and we will do all we can to ensure we never see another case like this in Suffolk County again."

He added: "This report is not an indictment of the vast majority of men and women at CPS who every day must deal with some of the most difficult cases one can imagine. The failed performance of a few who were trusted to protect Thomas Valva — and many other children — does not represent the true mission and spirit of CPS. I have already begun making significant changes in the department and will be immediately bringing in new leadership. I want to thank the grand jury for its work on this report. We will use their recommendations as a guide for much-needed reform to implement changes."

When asked if he was disappointed that there were no criminal charges against CPS workers, Tierney said, "The system didn’t even allow us to consider those charges."

Many have cried out for change after the boys' mother Justyna Zubko-Valva said she'd reached out for help from CPS to no avail. In addition, staff at Thomas' East Moriches Elementary School testified at both trials that they'd "flooded" CPS with calls to report the boys being sent to school freezing, hungry and in urine-soaked clothes, as well as with bruises — but, they said, help never came.

In 2020, former Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini first announced that he planned to convene a special grand jury to investigate all the circumstances surrounding Thomas' death in the frigid garage.

Thomas' death has long been the catalyst for an outpouring of grief among those who knew him and complete strangers, with hundreds who have come together to honor him at vigils, fundraisers and at his funeral.

Many have demanded change, questioning how his case fell through the cracks despite reported calls and complaints about suspected abuse.

Thomas' mother Justyna Zubko-Valva pleaded for help on her Twitter page before her son died. In 2020, Zubko-Valva filed a $200 million wrongful death suit. A judge ruled that portions of the $200 million lawsuit filed by Zubko-Valva after Thomas died can move forward, a judge ruled.
Zubko-Valva has not responded to requests for comment.

Four years after Thomas' death,a newly elected Romaine vowed, in his inaugural speech this year, to fix the current system so that no child will ever again slip through Child Protective Services and die, despite numerous, documented calls to save him.

Romaine said he is serious about the need to improve the county's Child Protective Services. At the inauguration ceremony, he pointed to his grandson who, he said, "sat next to a young boy in third grade called Thomas Valva. That lesson is never lost on me. It's one of the failures of government today. And I am going to work very hard to make sure that we have a system that does not fail another child."