01/26/2020
Greetings Family Services members. This is Nicholas
De Bello writing on behalf of the Family Services board and AME.
This is a difficult post, due to the circumstances for needing to write.
A community is grieving due to the tragic death of Thomas Valva. Like many of you reading this, my heart sank and my thoughts and prayers immediately went to the family and all those in his community who are reeling from this senseless loss of life.
Not long after learning about this tragedy, details started leaking out that the family had prior CPS involvement. My heart sunk to an even lower place knowing that people we work with just lost a piece of themselves that will never return. A fear all of us who have ever been in the field has been realized- A child lost his life. The depths of evil that it takes to torture a child, let alone take a child's life, is beyond comprehension. Make no mistake that if the information being provided is accurate, the couple who have been arrested will ultimately be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The rage, anger and sadness we all collectively feel towards those who did this won't be leaving any of us.
While our workforce grieves, the community does as well. This hasn't been easy due to the media attention surrounding Thomas' death. I've read some eloquent posts from some of our caseworkers regarding the difficulties and stressors of our jobs, trying to provide some insight and education into what we do and the tools we have to do them with. Sadly, many of the responses on those posts were negative and accusatory. Members of the community have a gross lack of knowledge regarding what we do and what our authority is. They also have raw feelings based on their perspective of what happened, despite the limited information.
That's where myself and your union leadership come in. I've spoken with most of the Family Services board over the last few days, as well as AME President Levler, and we all agree that we must work collectively to ensure that changes are made on the state level that will ensure adequate staffing, training and authority to our Caseworkers. AME President Levler has received numerous calls from elected officials locally and throughout the state inquiring about the needs of our workforce. We promise to address these issues head on, as Dan and I will be in Albany as often as it takes to discuss these issues directly in hopes of satisfactory, permanent relieve for our caseworkers.
Concurrently, we must work together to continue ensuring that the general public has a better understanding of what our jobs entail. While I was personally pleased to see the various Facebook posts caseworkers have created, as none specifically detailed this case or any others, I urge all of you to be cautious with your posts during these volatile times. The fact of the matter is there are more lives for us to positively impact, and that's going to be even more difficult to do during these heightened times of community anger. In order for all of you to effectively do your jobs to keep children safe, you must also do everything to keep yourselves safe. Any back and forth might just incite the masses more. Please try to refrain and allow our messaging (with all of your input) to come from AME and your unit board. This will also prevent anyone in the future from ever capturing a post and trying to utilize it as a perceived bias or failure to comply with confidentiality.
At some point, I'm sure we will ask for help (calls to elected officials, Lobby Day involvement, etc.). This needs to be an organized effort with clear direction and reasonable goals.
If there is anything anyone wishes to contribute or bring awareness to, please utilize me and the rest of your leadership to do so (even if your just emotionally spent and need a shoulder to cry on). Know that despite the current climate, the work we do truly and positively impacts the lives of the children and families we serve. Stay safe out there and much love and continued support to all!
