Monday, Jun. 02, 2008

Stanislaus County aiming for one-stop center to aid families in crisis

When Elizabeth Iverson became a victim of physical and mental abuse six years ago, she discovered the difficulty of accessing services available to help her in Stanislaus County.

A wide variety is available for families in crisis, from legal to medical help, counseling and shelter. But they are not all in one place, and for Iverson, that meant walking with three young children around downtown Modesto in the summer heat.

Iverson received assistance at Haven Women's Center of Stanislaus. There were restraining orders to file with the Modesto Police Department and the Sheriff's Department, and welfare papers to fill out. The district attorney's victim witness program helped.

Still, she had no car, and found herself walking with her children from Haven to the Police Department in Modesto, and to the Community Services Agency in Ceres.

"I carried ice packs and spray bottles to keep my children cool. I was too poor for baby-sitting," Iverson said. "I wish I could have gone somewhere where someone could hold my hand and tell me I was safe."

That place may become a reality by the end of this year. Spearheaded by the Stanislaus County district attorney's office and Assistant District Attorney Carol Shipley, a group of people from private and public agencies is trying to form a "one-stop shop" for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse and child abuse.

Modeled on a center in San Diego County, the Family Justice Center would be a place where each of the about 25 agencies that offer services to those victims would be available in one place. The group is looking at two buildings, one at 100 Poplar Ave., and the other is the county-owned Medical Arts Building at 700 17th St., both in Modesto.

"Stanislaus County is extremely rich in social services," said May Rico, associate director of Haven Women's Center of Stanislaus, a nonprofit agency dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. "But people don't know about them or don't have transportation to get to them."

Offer help with basic needs

The problem is complicated by the emotional turmoil victims are going through, Iverson said.

"I lost a lot of weight; it was very unhealthy. I was angry, I was not in a mentally healthy place. A lot of times I wanted to throw in the towel," she said. "If you can't take care of yourself, how can you take care of your kids?"

Proponents of the center believe it will have many benefits. It would help the victim and family by offering help with basic needs such as food, shelter and medical care, by helping victims sign up for such services as food stamps and nutritional supplements for children, qualifying them for health services and getting them a place to stay. It would help law enforcement agencies prosecute the perpetrators, and ultimately break the cycle of abuse and violence in future generations, Shipley said.

"It's not always a prosecution- oriented purpose," she said. "Victims aren't necessarily ready to leave the family unit or push out the perpetrator. They need to be taught safety and have a place to go to be safe. We just want the violence to stop."

The need for the center is obvious in the statistics: 2,489 abuse victims were reported in the county in 2006, and the number grew to 2,621 in 2007. The number of incidents that goes unreported adds 40 percent to that number, said Sgt. David Chamberlain of the Modesto Police Department.

"A large amount of people don't contact Haven," he said. They may be afraid of the offender or fear the stigma of approaching a social service agency or they might be a drug user and afraid to get in trouble with the law.