Suffolk CPS caseload website restored, showing growing child welfare strain

Suffolk County’s public Child Protective Services caseload site is visible again, and the numbers now showing point to a system under heavier pressure than a year ago. In the wake of Jor’dynn Duncan’s death in Bayport, the restored dashboard shows 88 CPS workers handling more than 12 cases each, nearly double the 48 workers who carried that burden one year earlier.

The strain climbs higher at the top end of the workload. Suffolk’s dashboard now lists 61 workers with more than 15 cases, up from 10 the previous year, and three workers with more than 20 cases each, compared with none a year ago. The county’s open-data site says the CPS Investigation Caseloads dashboard includes counts over 12, over 15 and over 20, along with total open report counts, and that the figures come from New York State’s Office of Children and Family Services data system. The underlying dataset on the open-data portal contains 28,329 rows.

That public visibility matters because Suffolk County has already been forced to reckon with what happens when CPS misses warning signs. A special grand jury empaneled on Sept. 13, 2023, and running through March 15, 2024, issued a 75-page report on April 4, 2024, concluding that Suffolk CPS failed to protect Thomas Valva and recommending legislative, executive and administrative changes. Thomas died Jan. 17, 2020, after being forced to sleep in an unheated garage in Center Moriches. Prosecutors said Michael Valva and Angela Pollina were responsible for his death, and Pollina was convicted of second-degree murder. Suffolk officials later announced CPS reforms in November 2024, but the restored caseload figures suggest the staffing problem has not disappeared.

The county is now facing fresh questions because Jor’dynn Duncan’s case has again put CPS decisions under a microscope. Authorities said Suffolk CPS placed Jor’dynn with Emily Kelly, her father’s fiancée, in December 2024, and county officials and lawmakers are seeking more answers about how that placement was handled after her death from severe abuse.

Jeffrey Reynolds of the Family & Children’s Association said the caseloads appear too large for any one caseworker to manage, and he pointed to economic pressure and increased reporting as possible contributors. Legislator Rebecca Sanin of Huntington Station said she has questions about recruitment and retention, as low pay and difficult working conditions may be making it harder for Suffolk to keep experienced staff.

For Suffolk families, the restored dashboard turns an abstract complaint into a measurable public safety concern. The county can now be judged not just on promises made after tragedy, but on whether enough workers remain in place to protect vulnerable children before another case slips through the cracks.