MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS OF PROTECTING AND TREATING VICTIMS OF FAMILY VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT



In 1984, Astrid Heppenstall Heger, M.D., returned to the University of Southern California to revitalize the child abuse program at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center in East Los Angeles. In an 8 x 12 foot room in the old Pediatric Pavilion the first medically based Child Advocacy Center was born to evaluate and treat abused and neglected children.



The LAC+USC pediatric unit had previously been a major referral center for physical abuse and neglect of children, but Dr. Heppenstall Heger, a pediatrician, brought with her an expertise in the medical diagnosis of child sexual abuse. Blending these traditions and skills, the newly conceived Center for the Vulnerable Child (CVC) rapidly became the largest child abuse center in California and the only program available to social and legal professionals 24-hours a day, 7 days a week.



Eventually, requests by the legal system to evaluate non-pediatric victims of sexuassault resulted in the creation of a Sexual Assault Center. Many of the women are also impacted by intimate partner violence and thus a 24-Hour Domestic Violence Response Team was mobilized. Because of this growth in services, in 1995 the Center for the Vulnerable Child became known as the Violence Intervention Program (VIP) and expanded its reach to all victims of violence regardless of age or gender.



This new concept of a Family Advocacy Center was built on the success of the CVC child abuse program. The same multidisciplinary approach to child abuse was applied to all forms of family violence and sexual assault, and included comprehensive medical and mental health services. Requests from Los Angeles County Adult Protctive Services to provide the same for the elderly and disabled resulted in a new clinic now known as the Adult Protection Team. Almost a decade later, services for elders and dependent adults were expanded with the creation of the Los Angeles County Elder Abuse Forensic Center (LACEAFC), one of only two centers in the nation that provides a coordinated multidisciplinary response to cases of elder and dependent adult abuse.



The VIP’s first real home was created out of an abandoned trailer previously used as a satellite pharmacy. Private funds were used to turn the 1,100 square foot trailer into a stand-alone child abuse clinic. Earthquakes and program growth required moving the trailer to a parking lot adjacent to Women's and Children's Hospital. This change of location facilitated access to services for patients of all ages.



Due to its proximity to emergency departments and the growing reputation of accessible high quality services for victims of all ages, the program outgrew the 1,100 square feet of trailer space. One hundred yards away and across the street were the building remnants of the old California College of Medicine. Eventually this old historic building was leased by Los Angeles County to the VIP affiliated non-profit organization, VIP Community Mental Health Center, Inc. (VIP CMHC), and subject to extensive renovations. In 2003, the S. Mark Taper Foundation was joined by the Everychild Foundation and other generous contributors to fund a $2 million renovation of this historic building into the S. Mark Taper Foundation Family Advocacy Center. In addition to housing administrative offices, the Family Advocacy Center is also home to the services provided through the VIP CMHC, which was established in 1997 to provide long-term mental health therapy, and incorporated into an affiliated 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in December 2001. Children’s services offered by the VIP CMHC are part of the Everychild Foundation Center for the Vulnerable Child.




VIP services continued to expand with the addition of the Community-Based Assessment and Treatment Center, a primary care clinic for foster care youth, in 2004. The CATC serves children 0-18 years of age who are under the supervision of the Department of Children and Family Services. It has also recently launched a new program aimed at assessing children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.



In 2007, after more than 20 years of helping victims heal from the trauma of family violence, the VIP established a program to prevent the violence before it occurs by working with teens most at risk for dating/domestic violence.The VIP’s Youth Development and Violence Prevention Program, housed in the Santana House on the VIP campus, provides a space and comprehensive programming for young people who have been hurt by violence to heal from their past victimization and become leaders in the effort to prevent violence in their own lives and in their communities.



Program Timeline