Family Advocates' Services
By: Melissa Duve, Shelter Services Director
Hi My Name is Melissa and I am the shelter Services Director here at Family Advocates. October is Domestic Violence awareness month and I would like to take the time to tell about all the services we have to offer.
Many people know that we have a shelter in Platteville that houses victims of abuse, and while this is a large part of the services that we provide, there are a number of other services that we offer as well. Not only do we have the shelter in Platteville, but we also have an outreach office in Darlington and an outreach office in Dodgeville.
In addition to domestic violence, we offer services to victims of sexual assault, child abuse, elder abuse and human trafficking.
The shelter has 6 bedrooms, a family room, a living room which is often used as a 7th bedroom, dining room, kitchen, 3 bathrooms, a classroom, food room, donation room, laundry room and 6 offices.
We provide one-on-one advocacy at the shelter and the offices in Darlington and Dodgeville. We also have offices at UW-Platteville and Southwest Technical College.
Additionally, we will be offering AODA counseling in the near future.
Other services provided include:
Adult support groups
Youth support groups
Summer camps for Youth
Kids in Transition program - after school tutoring
Support groups in schools
A 24-hour hotline
24-hour crisis response – there is always an advocate on call 24 hours a day to respond
to a hospital, police department or the shelter
Legal advocacy in which we assist victims with paperwork such as child custody, divorce,
restraining orders or any other legal matter
Medical advocacy by responding or accompanying victims to hospitals or clinics
Criminal justice advocacy which is victim assistance with police departments or anyone
within the criminal justice system
Prevention – working with the community and individuals and families
Awareness – attending community events and providing presentations on the
prevalence of different forms of abuse in society – including our own communities
Education – which includes presentations to local organizations, schools, community as
well as working with individuals
Food boxes, household items and furniture for new homes for victims/survivors – we
also assist with moving them into their new homes
And, we also have clothing vouchers to the Platteville Thrift Store
In 2019 we had nearly 5,000 nights of shelter, 337 domestic violence clients, 294 sexual assault clients, and 249 children served. We also had over 1,000 crisis calls. Hopefully these numbers and list of services help to give you a better idea of the all-encompassing services that are provided.