By: Melissa Vega
SAN ANTONIO, TX – The Bexar County Family Justice Center is one of only two of its kind in Texas, and on average, services more than 70 victims in crisis a week.
The Family Justice Center is located on the 1100 block of N. Main, and you don’t need an appointment to stop in.
“We are here to help, the services we provide are vital,” said Executive Director Lisa Cunningham Ginn.
Advocates are on hand to take initial interviews with victims, while their children are able to wait in a playroom where a foster grandmother from Catholic Charities offers support.
The Family Justice Center also has two Bexar County Assistant District Attorney’s on hand to help with protective orders, and members of the San Antonio Police department are a few doors down.
“So this is a hub, I like to think of it as a hub for healing,” said Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood.
The Family Justice Center has been around since 2005 and helps around 4,000 victims each year.
Victims are not only assisted with initial services to include safety plans and protective orders, but continual ones to include counseling, child therapy and education.
“You’re also helping the child, and making a difference that you don’t pass on that mindset that, that world view down the path,” LaHood went on to say.
All of the services offered by the Family Justice Center are free of charge.
“I just want our victims in the community who are silently suffering at home to know that we’re here for them,” Ginn went on to say.
If you’d like to know more about the services the Family Justice Center provides, call (210) 631-0100.
Original article: Hub for Healing: Inside the Family Justice Center