Company Profile
The Family Place
Company Overview
OUR MISSION
The Family Place empowers victims of family violence by providing safe housing, counseling and skills that create independence while building community engagement and advocating for social change to stop family violence.
For victims of family violence, The Family Place is the Dallas area’s leading organization delivering proven programs that address emotional and physical abuse and incest. The Family Place provides free, comprehensive services that prevent violence and fully support women, children and men on their path from fear to safety.
www.familyplace.org
Company History
The Family Place is one of the first family violence service providers in the state with a mission to eliminate family violence through intervention and proactive prevention, extensive community education, and advocacy and assistance for victims and their families.
The Family Place now provides the largest number of victim services for in the State of Texas. In 37 years, The Family Place has counseled more than 225,000 clients, provided lifesaving shelter to more than 22,000 women, children and men, and answered more than 550,000 calls for help. The Family Place has also helped more than 20,000 batterers learn how to change their abusive behavior. Its youth program, Be Project, reaches approximately 6,000 students each year through youth education programs. All the programs are provided in Spanish and in English. For more information, visit www.familyplace.org.
Shedding light on consequences of domestic violence
November 23, 2015
by Rebecca Lopez
WFFA-TV
The numbers are staggering. One hundred thirty-two women were killed in domestic violence cases last year.
The youngest victim was 16, the oldest victim 90.
The majority of them were shot.
News 8 is committed to putting the spotlight on this issue. Estella Segovia survived domestic violence, and shared her story with us.
"When did the abuse start?” we asked. She said it began three weeks after she got married.
For seven years, Estella lived in a private Hell.
"He hit me, he kicked me in my face when I was on the floor,” she said. “He put a pillow over my face and tried to smother me."
Her now ex-husband Joseph Buckaloo reigned terror over her life. A tyrant who controlled her every move.
"They think abuse is control and getting what you want,” Estella said.
Tired of the beatings, Estella filed for a protective order and left -- that was in 2012.
"I started to follow the directions and I got the protective order- within a week he had already violated it at my home."
Like most domestic violence victims, she lived in fear her ex-husband would find her and kill her.
Her worst nightmare came true. He showed up at her cousin's house, armed with a gun demanding Estella leave with him.
For the first time, she told him no. And that proved to be fateful.
"Once I closed the door and locked it, that's when I heard the cocking of the gun," she said.
Buckaloo fired dozens of rounds.
"I started hearing the glass breaking,” Estella said. “Shot after shot after shot is when I really felt it, so surreal like it wasn't happening."
When the bullets stopped, Estella's cousin, who was also at the home, was shot in the face.
"I blamed myself for a long time for being there,” Estella said. “She ended up losing her left eye."
All this after Estella made the decision to leave.
She was going through counseling at the Family Place.
Statistics show of the women killed in domestic violence incidents, 75 percent die after leaving.
More than half die by gunfire.
"When a batterer realizes he's lost control of his partner, that is when she is in the most danger, especially if you have filed for divorce, served divorce papers or say I am leaving you,” Paige Flink of the Family Place said. “That is when you have to have a safety plan to be able to get out."
Estella's ex was sentenced to 99 years in prison. She no longer had to look over her shoulder.
And she encourages other victims to seek help and shelter because she says their lives depend on it.
Read more at WFAA-TV!
Benefits
Employee Assistance Plan