Eastern New Mexico's Rural Safehouse
| What is a Safehouse? During the past decades, rural communities across america have come to realize they can no longer ignore the increasing incidence of child abuse in their communities. The rural safehouse is Eastern New Mexico's opportunity to interrupt the unnecessary victimization of children once their abuse has been reported. Safehouses provide a neutral environment where the victims of abuse can be interviewed by trained forensic interviewers. Traditionally the investigative process subjects children to a multitude of interviews in an effort to gather information for law enforcement and social services. In most instances, these interviews are conducted in settings that may be frightening and overwhelming to children. These interviews are repeated time after time as children are shuffled from one agency to another. This approach demands that the child repeatedly relive cases. |
What is the Goal? The rural safehouse (Oasis) provides community agencies, and professionals involved in child abuse cases, a neutral location to conduct interviews shortly after the abuse has been reported. Five counties in Eastern New Mexico benefit from it's services: Curry, DeBaca, Quay, Roosevelt, and Harding. The Oasis should be a non-threatening location where children and their families can feel comfortable and secure. The interview room should be age appropriate, complete with discrete taping devices, and adjacent observation rooms. Here, the highly trained interviewer can skillfully elicit accurate facts about the incident, without further trauma to the child. The goal of The Oasis is to enhance coordination among the many agencies and proffessionals in the intervention system for child abuse. The facility will allow proffesionals from children's protective services, law enforcement, medical, and prosecutorial agencies to meet and become more sensitive to the roles of each agency. This information exchange should lead to more informed case management decisions, while minimizing the trauma to children. |
How can you Help? The Oasis can only exist with the support of citizens in Curry, DeBaca, Quay, Roosevelt, and Harding counties. Although The Oasis is partially supported by grants from Children, Youth, and Families, and United Way, it can only be successful by gaining the financial and emotional support of community citizen's. Contributions may be sent to: The Oasis
P.O. Box 1922 Clovis, NM 88101 Calls can be made to The Oasis -
(505) 769-7732
"It only takes and outstretched hand."
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