HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — "A long review of Child Protective Services in Suffolk County is complete and on Wednesday the results were unveiled. The county is under scrutiny following the death of 8-year-old Thomas Valva, who froze to death in his father’s garage, CBSN New York’s Carolyn Gusoff reported.
County Executive Steve Bellone revealed the results of two month-long reviews both internal and external, and six proposed new laws to better protect children and beef up CPS. Among them: the escalation process will be enhanced. That means when CPS receives three reports from a school nurse, psychologist, or social worker, the case must be reviewed by a supervisor.
Caseloads will be reduced to 12 cases per month, and a specialized unit with special training for case workers will be created to deal specifically with children with spectrum or other developmental disabilities.
“The most important finding of the task force is that this system is just not set up to effectively protect kids on the autism spectrum or other kids with developmental disabilities. Once these reforms are adopted and fully implemented CPS will never operate the same way again,” Bellone said. “And that is appropriate, because what happened to Thomas Valva can never happen again.”
newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/03/04/thomas-valva-suffolk-county-child-protective-services-reviews/