Defenders of Children

In 2022, Defenders of Children collaborated with different community partner agencies to expand our reach and help to improve services for family violence survivors (and helping prevent future abuse and violence). Our extensive work with other agencies is critical to creating more opportunities for survivors in AZ, both within and outside of Maricopa County. We work closely with many domestic violence and homeless shelters, private counselors and therapists, Superior Court judges, lay legal advocates from various partner agencies, victim advocates at city/county offices, school social workers, and more. We offer a comprehensive, holistic approach to survivor services, including but not limited to: social work case management, legal document preparation, legal representation, individual therapy, group therapies, etc. In 2022, we provided services for 698 individuals and countless other secondary victims and their families, provided Helpline advocacy, crisis management, safety planning and referrals to 249 anonymous callers. Of these served, we provided legal and/or clinical therapy services to more than 419 survivors of family violence (many survivors reported multiple victimizations), hundreds of victims of child phsyical and sexual abuse and/or neglect, human trafficking, stalking, custodial kidnapping, marital rape, interpersonal dating violence, theft, child sexual orientation discrimination, landlord/tenant disputes and discrimination affecting family violence survivors.