Thursday, April 12, 2007

First there is the crime and then there are the hours of repeating what happened to authorities.

Center opens for victims of violent crimes, By Carol La Valley, Roundup staff reporter.

"Ideally, we want people to feel safe when they are here," said forensic interviewer/victim's advocate Christy Walton.

Walton's job is to make the crime victim(s) feel at ease in a private room with a comfortable chair where she interviews them about what happened.

The new center is called the Gila Family Advocacy Center. It is one of 16 such facilities in Arizona and 600 nationwide that aim to minimize further trauma to victims.

"The legal system is daunting to go through," said Jean Oliver, education coordinator for the Time Out Shelter and program coordinator for the Gila Family Advocacy Center. "Our mission is to improve outcomes for abuse victims."

"From our perspective, (GFAC) is going to be the best opportunity to offer immediate services, and help crime victims understand the legal system," said county attorney Daisy Flores.

GFAC plans to review all child fatalities in Gila County to help determine how many fatalities involve abuse, Oliver said.

Other victim advocacy centers in Arizona are run by police departments or county attorney's offices. GFAC is the first facility to be run by a nonprofit domestic violence shelter. Tax-deductible donations may be made to Time Out for distribution to its programs, as needed.

"We are so pleased to be able to provide these services to the community," Oliver said.

abridged read the entire article here >>

Congratulations Arizona , my only question is why can't we have one in Florida, it would have made things a lot easier for Dr. Fernandez to make his case during the summer of 2004 when his wife was abducted, instead he was reduced to making his case on a wheelchair in the parking lot of the Police Department , because that was as close to as he would get , to having his complaint heard.

Luckily for Dr. Fernandez Judge Von Hof in Palm Beach ruled that Clara might have been 'improperly removed' and Dr. Fernandez was able view video >> to see his wife again before he died, due to the stress of the situation.

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