About Family Abuse Services of Alamance County

Mission Statement:
Family Abuse Services (FAS) is committed to zero tolerance of domestic violence through the prevention and intervention of domestic violence and child abuse through community education and interdisciplinary cooperation between agencies working with high risk families.

 

Service Principles:

FAS will, within the mandate of our services, make a commitment to our partnering agencies to the spirit of the domestic violence statements of principles and beliefs. We strive to be accessible to all ethnic and cultural groups, people with handicapping conditions, and do so accentuating professional confidentiality and effective documentation.  All programs shall ensure that staff, volunteers and board members who have access to client files adhere to the agency’s confidentiality policy.

 

Staff and Board at Family Abuse Services of Alamance County understand that domestic violence is almost never an isolated behavior, but is a complex set of problems faced by certain families in our community. No one agency or service can possibly meet the needs of the victims of these problems. It takes all human service agencies working in a strong partnership to stop the epidemic of family violence.

 

24 hour Crisis Line: 226-5985

24 hour Emergency Shelter

Transitional Housing

Support Groups

Court Advocacy

Community Education

Hispanic Outreach: 228-9040

Visitation Center: 226-7433

Website: www.familyabuseservices.org

 

 

Victims have phone access for emergencies and support and shelter Intake, available 24 hours a day/7 days a week (336-226-5985) **Not every caller will be appropriate for Shelter intake, but every caller should be given helpful information and/or an appropriate referral.

 

Open 7 Days a Week

Mission: Provide a safe haven to victims of family violence 

 

 

Transitional Housing Procedures:

 

 

FAS offers group support one evening a week with childcare available for English and one evening a week for Spanish.

These are open to community women who have experienced partner abuse, whether they are currently in the situation, have recently left, or if the abuse was in the past (regardless of how long ago).

Education will be provided about the issues of battering in a relationship, all shelter residents are referred to the support groups while they are in the shelter.

 

Advocates do not provide legal representation: An advocate can help to explain court procedures and provide emotional support. An advocate may also be available for any court action necessary to enforce the original decision.   

 

Court advocates:

 

 

Mission: The mission of MVP is to raise awareness about the level of men’s violence against women, challenge the thinking of mainstream society, open dialogue between men and women, and inspire the leadership by empowering people with concrete options to effect change. 

 

In all the programs, staff members work closely with the appropriate professions in the schools when the programs are done to ensure continuity is maintained in the learning, but also in specific situations where the need for follow-up intervention may be necessary.  Preparation for community education will encourage school personnel to become familiar with the handling of family violence, including appropriate referral information and the reporting laws concerning families and children. Below is an example of how one school handles situations involving reported information from the student:

 

At middle school level administrators and the counselors would begin with the follow up meetings. After that initial meeting they would determine whether a DSS referral would be needed. If the referral was not made, the counselors/social worker would continue to monitor the situation. The parents would be contacted in reference to the issues as well, unless that would involve safety problems for the student. When a referral is made, the social worker addresses the issue and follows her guidelines for DSS referrals and the counselors will continue to monitor the student.

 

Elon University students go into local classrooms of 9th grade high school students and pre-test the students’ knowledge about domestic violence. They read out loud many different scenarios concerning the “what if’s” in physical or verbal abuse situations and ask students to disagree or agree by moving to certain areas of the room representing those opinions. They see the differences among themselves, and genuinely talk about their reactions to the information.

 

Mission: The mission of the WAVE program is to raise awareness of domestic violence, its effects, and ways of prevention in order to stop the cycle of domestic violence in the lives of our youth.

 

For 5 weeks, one day per week, the WAVE team members, Law Enforcement, DSS, Juvenile Probation, and FAS staff go to every middle school in the Alamance Burlington School System and educate 8th graders by defining domestic violence. Written agendas on family violence, dating violence, and effects of domestic violence on teenagers along with DVD’s and actual 911 calls are shown to students. Thorough education by instructors leads students into open discussion on the topic for that particular class. At closing of each class all students are given an index card and asked to write any questions about class or comments on the subject matter. To conclude the program, a special guest speaker will attend and students will be asked to participate in a ceremony that calls for the reading out loud of the names of women and children who have died because of domestic violence in North Carolina in the current year.

 

Mission: The mission of the Family Abuse Service’s puppet show is to create awareness by educating 3rd graders on the signs of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect of children.

 

Starting in February, the Community Educator for Family Abuse Services and Alamance County Service League volunteers go to all schools, including public, charter, and private, and present a puppet show called “There is Someone to Talk To”.  There are 4 skits within the show concerning different types of child abuse. After the show is over, the Community Educator goes over each puppet that had the problem to make sure the children totally understand. Full discussion along with questions and comments are encouraged for the students. They are told to write a letter to the guidance counselor about the show. If in these presentations they write that they are experiencing something they have seen, the guidance counselors take the appropriate actions required for the safety of the children, or in some cases the children’s caretaker. 

 

Community Education programming aspires to:

 

 

Mission: Provide culturally sensitive and competent services. Hispanic outreach personnel strive to:

Maintain linkages with community agencies serving ethnic and cultural minorities,

Conduct presentations to build awareness and knowledge in communities,  

Assist in court advocacy, Shelter, Visitation, and Transitional Housing to ensure quality services to Hispanic and Latino families.

           

Mission: Provide services to children and parents that help children maintain safe relationships with parents. Vital information about the Safe Exchange and Visitation Center includes:

 

Family Abuse Services also maintains program that gives families going through Domestic Violence an apartment where they can live and get their lives back together. These families can stay up to two years.