Suffolk CPS struggles, child abuse deaths hit decade high

Suffolk County’s Child Protective Services reached a 10-year high in child abuse and neglect deaths, a stark sign that the county’s child-safety net is still failing the children it is supposed to protect.

One case involved a 2-year-old who drowned in Islandia despite prior complaints, a detail that underscores how warning signs did not trigger enough intervention. The pattern reaches back to failures to separate children from known risks, leaving dangerous homes in place until the damage was done. County officials have said the system has been strained by a high number of less experienced staff, and that explanation has become part of the county’s own case for why CPS has struggled to improve.

The deepest wound remains the death of Thomas Valva, who was 8 when he died of hypothermia in January 2020 at his Center Moriches home. His father, former NYPD transit officer Michael Valva, and his fiancée, Angela Pollina, were later convicted of second-degree murder. In June 2020, Thomas Valva’s mother, Justyna Zubko-Valva, filed a $200 million federal lawsuit accusing Suffolk CPS employees, a Nassau judge and school officials of ignoring years of warnings about abuse, starvation and neglect.

After that case, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, District Attorney Ray Tierney and county social services officials announced changes to CPS on Nov. 7, 2024. The county said the package included money to fill vacant positions, improve training and reform processes. Officials also pointed to New York State’s Office of Children and Family Services, which said a 2024 Program Quality Improvement Review showed substantial improvement and many 100% compliance ratings. Still, the county’s repeated reports to the state about its high number of less experienced staff show that the staffing problem has not disappeared.

The public-policy stakes remain immediate. Suffolk’s child fatality review team was pushed into action after a separate Newsday report, a sign that child-welfare failures are still being treated as an active county problem, not a closed chapter. For families in Suffolk, the question is no longer whether the system has been shaken. It is whether children still in CPS now are safer than those who were missed before.