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Albuquerque Family Advocacy Center |
A Safe Place to Get Help
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About Us |
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If you are a mother with small
children and you are being abused by your
husband, statistics show your children are often
being abused by him as well. In order to get
yourself and your children to live in safety you
must negotiate the law enforcement and legal
systems, the medical system, the education system,
and the human service system while you are
trying to keep your job and, perhaps, seek the
support of your faith community. It is a tall order,
especially when you are scared and, no matter what
your financial status, your access to resources has
been limited by your abuser. For some victims, there
are the added burdens of language and cultural
barriers.
Research has consistently shown that
adult and child victims of family violence who
successfully move into healthy living situations
need up to 32 different organizations to help them
get there. Sadly, many victims return to abuse
because the systems which are in place to help them
seem too cumbersome to negotiate at a time when they
are most vulnerable. The difficulty is compounded by
the fact that the systems do not communicate
efficiently with one another. For most victims it is
difficult to find the courage to move forward after
being so seriously diminished for so long. In many
cases it is the abuse of the children, not of
themselves, that moves the victim to action. Those
who muster that courage are met by a disconnected
system that often loses them somewhere along the
way. |
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The
Vision |
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We envision a community where interpersonal violence
is unacceptable at anytime, in any place, by anyone.
We will achieve this vision by engaging all
stakeholders of our community in building a system
of care that supports victims of violence and sexual
assault. By doing this, we will increase the quality
of life for everyone who lives here. |
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The
Mission |
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To establish a Family Advocacy Center where adult
and child victims of interpersonal violence and
sexual assault have access to comprehensive,
multi-disciplinary services. The focus of the
Albuquerque Family Advocacy Center will be to
decrease victim trauma and intimidation while
providing supportive services in respectful and
culturally appropriate ways. |
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Advantages of a Family Advocacy Center |
- Victim friendly and victim safe environment
(no suspects).
- Reduces the investigation time for all
agencies involved.
- Reduces the number of interviews from as
many as five to one per case, while at the same
time increasing the quality of investigations.
- Eliminates travel time for victims and
significantly reduces travel for all service
providers.
- Improves coordination of multi-disciplinary
teams: medical evaluation, forensic, interviews,
law enforcement, child/adult protective service
investigations, crisis counseling and
prosecution.
- Makes it possible to eliminate language and
cultural barriers to service across all service
systems.
- Increases the number of convictions, guilty
pleas and plea bargains through the appropriate
prosecutorial divisions.
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