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Domestic abuse shelter closing

Family Services to pursue new plan

Mirror photo by Russ O’Reilly / Ashley Gay-Vocco, Family Services Inc. director for victim services, folds a blanket in a room of the women’s shelter. The shelter is set to close Feb. 1.

Mirror photo by Russ O’Reilly / Ashley Gay-Vocco, Family Services Inc. director for victim services, folds a blanket in a room of the women’s shelter.
The shelter is set to close Feb. 1.

In a move that shelter leaders said will help more domestic abuse victims in the county, a new research-backed model of providing protection for women and children is set to replace the 35-year-old domestic abuse shelter on Eighth Ave­nue.

The communal shelter, operated by Family Services Inc., is currently housing no women or children and is slated to close Feb. 1. In its place, shelter advocates plan to develop avenues for victims to rapidly find safe housing, whe­ther that means helping victims install security systems, find a new place or reconnect with friends and family.

It’s a more cost-efficient and effective change, leaders said during a press conference Thursday at Family Services headquarters on Broad Avenue.

The cost of operating the shelter for two days equals the cost of a month’s rent for a family of four, said Ashley Gay-Vocco, Family Services program director for victim services.

It takes $200,000 per year to run the shelter that can house 16 women and children.

The cost of the new model hasn’t been determined, “but it will be less,” Gay-Vocco said.

Most survivors of domestic abuse would not choose communal living in a shelter if they had another choice, according to research by a Michigan State University professor cited by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Abuse.

In addition, shelters use up to 40 percent of funding but serve very few survivors, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development prefers to fund “rapid rehousing” programs rather than shelters, according to research.

Coalitions against domestic violence in other states have promoted similar research, and several Pennsylvania counties have successfully made the transition, Gay-Vocco said.

She is optimistic about a developing relationship with the Altoona landlords association to provide emergency housing for domestic abuse victims.

In addition, shelter advocates will be trained to help victims rebuild relationships with friends and family who can take them in. Abusers have a way of isolating victims from their support systems, Gay-Vocco said.

The change has the full support of Donna Gority, a former Blair County commissioner and one of the founders of the shelter.

“I am very much on board with the new model. When the shelter opened in 1983, it was the only thing at that point we could see for safety of victims, but the state of the art has shifted,” she said.

Gority said with protection-from-abuse orders becoming more effective through courts and law enforcement, the shelter’s trained volunteers and staff are shifting their focus and funding to alternatives in times of crisis that weren’t available 35 years ago.

“Now we can get victims’ feet under them right where they are instead of stripping them away from their homes and their children’s schools,” Gority said.

A majority of the center’s funding is provided by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Family Services leaders believe their funding could increase because the new model would allow more victims to be served.

Family Services already assists victims with safe housing, but with the shelter closing, more funding can be allocated to that more effective model, Gay-Vocco said.

She stressed that all victim services are continuing. The only change is to the shelter.

Victims of domestic violence can reach a Family Services advocate by calling 944-3585 or by visiting www.familyservicesinc.net.

Mirror Staff Writer Russ O’Reilly is at 946-7435.

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