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Our Mission: To lessen the trauma and heal the hurt of abuse to children and their families through interviewing, therapy, victim services, investigation and prosecution.
We do that by:
Ensuring that the focus is constantly on what's best for the child,
upholding the highest ethical standards.Always showing the utmost respect for the children, families and professionals we deal with on a daily basis.
Maintaining a positive uplifting attitude.
Our Vision: That every child is free from abuse and lives in a safe and stable environment.
We constantly strive to:
- Provide a beautiful, child-friendly facility and warm, caring
staff for children who have disclosed abuse.
Children and families are in crisis when they arrive at Harmony Home, and are pleasantly surprised to find an atmosphere that is not "institutional," but warm and welcoming. Transportation to our facility is available for clients in need.
- Provide a videotaped interview of the child by a highly
skilled child interviewer.
Our Forensic Interviewer conducts a non-leading, legally acceptable interview. This reduces trauma to the child by allowing the child to discuss what has happened just once, rather than having to tell his/her story repeatedly to many different professionals. Others involved in the case may then come to Harmony Home and view the tape, rather than question the child again.
- Provide free therapy by licensed therapists who specialize in
child abuse.
Children and non-offending caregivers may receive short and long term therapy from a highly qualified clinical staff with combined experience of more than 21 years of working with children. Our therapists are Licensed Professional Counselors. Two are Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisors (LPC-S) and Registered Play Therapist Supervisors (RPT-S). We also have a bilingual (Spanish) therapist that is available.
- Provide victim services coordination.
Non-offending caregivers have many concerns and needs when they come to Harmony Home CAC. Our Victim Services Director helps with the Crime Victim Compensation application and coordinates with community agencies to find the resources that the family may need.
- Provide case coordination.
Harmony Home helps coordinate the investigation and services provided to the child and family. A multidisciplinary team including members of the Ector County Sheriff’s Office, the Odessa Police Department, the County and District Attorneys Offices, Medical Center Hospital - Sexual Abuse Nurse Examiners (SANE) Program, Child Protective Services, and Harmony Home staff meets twice monthly to discuss abuse cases. The team response to allegations of child abuse includes forensic interviews, medical evaluations, therapeutic intervention, victim support/advocacy, case review, and case tracking in order to promote a sense of safety and consistency to the child and family.