New York State Child Protective Services agency suppressed 725 child death reports over decade
sauce: https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/State-agency-suppressed-725-child-death-reports-15644839.php
Suffolk County death is latest episode in which state agency concealed analysis of county performance
Chris Bragg
Oct. 13, 2020
Updated: Oct. 13, 2020 7:23 p.m.
Over the past decade, more than 700 reviews of child deaths in New York were kept hidden by a state agency, decisions denying the public answers about whether Child Protective Services (CPS) workers failed those children.
The most recent suppression stems from an unusually high-profile case: The January death of Thomas Valva, the autistic 8-year-old who had allegedly been beaten by his father, then forced to sleep in a freezing garage in Suffolk County, Long Island, where he froze to death.
By law, after the death of a child in the CPS system, the state Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) must create a report examining whether CPS workers followed required protocols in investigating allegations of abuse that had been reported prior to the fatality. But OCFS has discretion about whether to release the resulting report, and often employs an exemption that blocks disclosure — a step the agency has taken in the Valva case.
“I’m just flabbergasted that they would take a position like that,” said attorney Jon Norinsberg, who is representing Thomas Valva’s mother in a negligence case against Suffolk County.
As the Times Union recently reported, OCFS often suppresses reports on child deaths at the recommendation of county governments — the same county governments whose CPS workers are critiqued in the reports.
Indeed, Suffolk County urged OCFS to withhold the state agency's review of Thomas Valva's death from release, arguing that keeping the information secret was in the "best interest" of the boy's surviving siblings.
The attorney for Justyna Zubko-Valva, the mother of those surviving siblings, disagrees and believes the report should be released. Thomas' two brothers are living with Zubko-Valva, who was not in any way implicated in the boy's death.
Suppressing the report could certainly be in the best interest of Suffolk County, which faces a $200 million negligence lawsuit from Zubko-Valva.
OCFS has suppressed 725 reviews of child deaths since 2010, the agency said in response to an open records request from the Times Union. The agency also disclosed last week that it was refusing to provide a copy of the report on Thomas Valva's death.
Thomas' father Michael Valva, a New York City police officer, and his fiancee Angela Pollina face charges of second-degree murder and more. Both maintain their innocence.
Records from the Valva case reviewed by the Times Union, as well as other news organizations, indicate that Suffolk CPS did not follow certain rules in investigating whether Thomas and his brothers were being abused. The OCFS report would include much more information about whether Suffolk CPS followed procedures in its investigation of allegations that Michael Valva was abusive. The agency's decision to suppress its review could conceivably deprive Thomas’ mother of crucial evidence that could be used in the civil case.
When a member of the public requests a copy of a child fatality report, OCFS asks the relevant county social service agency for a written recommendation as to whether the release is in the "best interest" of surviving siblings or other children in the household. That is the lone exemption in state law allowing a report's suppression by the commissioner of OCFS.
In making such recommendations, counties also may have their own interests in mind — including negligence lawsuits from grieving families or the desire to avoid public criticism. All provide incentive to exaggerate the harm a report's release might cause to the child's surviving siblings…..