FAMILY AND COMMUNITY RESOURCES INC

Family and Community Resources, Inc. (FCR) provides comprehensive services to individuals and families impacted by trauma at home, school, or in the community, with a specialization in supporting the needs of children, adolescents and adults affected by domestic violence. Programs and services include: individual and group mental health counseling services, case management services, survivor advocacy services, community education and training on issues related to trauma and domestic violence, supervised visitation and parenting support, and a Department of Public Health certified Intimate Partner Abuse Education Program, a 24 hour crises line, emergency safe home services, multi-lingual services, and a Child Witness to Violence Program.

FCR began operations in 1977 as a licensed mental health facility in Brockton, MA. Prior to that (since 1968), it was incorporated as the Youth Resource Bureau, whose primary purpose was to engage youth in positive activities (like Outward Bound) that would promote violence prevention. In 1991 FCR established the Domestic Violence Action Program. Our work is rooted in a trauma-informed systems approach with a deep understanding of how trauma intersects with poverty, racial disparities, immigration status, and other issues. FCR creates modalities of care that are informed by our work and research from the field, and is a recognized leader in developing and promoting promising practices. Since those first days of providing domestic violence services, FCR has sought to collaborate with other providers to ensure comprehensive, wrap-around services.

In 2004 FCR was the first agency to place domestic violence advocates in housing and juvenile courts. In 2006, FCR received the first 10-year grant from the State to provide community-based DV counseling services with the City of Brockton and 10 surrounding communities. FCR staff coordinate and facilitate the Greater Brockton Domestic and Sexual Violence Task Force, which convened three years ago and works to coordinate services for victims across partner agencies in the region. FCR also sits on the Mayor of the City of Brockton’s Task Force on Human Trafficking launched in 2017.

Recognizing a need to hold batterers accountable for their actions and to work with them to prevent further violence, FCR began providing Intimate Partner Abuse Education programs (formerly called Batterer's Intervention Program) in 2003. In fact, FCR was one of the first seven Department of Public Health certified programs in the state. In 2017, FCR was awarded funding by the Department of Justice to provide support services to victims of domestic violence who are serving in the military, in collaboration with the Veterans Administration in Brockton, the National Guard in Hingham, several local police departments and the South Shore Women's Center.

Early on we recognized a need to allow for children to have connections with both parents, custodial or non-custodial, in a safe and supportive environment. In 1991 FCR opened the first Supervised Visitation Center in Massachusetts, providing services to families with domestic violence histories. Since our first center in Brockton, we have opened part-time visitation centers in Taunton, Quincy, and Hyannis. Today, the FCR visitation program is the largest of its kind in the state.

We offer services to over 2000 clients annually in 6 locations across the state including: Brockton, Raynham, Quincy, and the Cape and Islands. Our clients come to us from over 163 cities across Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with a majority coming from the Brockton, Taunton and Fall River areas.

Our clients are ethnically, culturally, and economically diverse; 85% live in households with incomes below the poverty level. Client ages range from infant through elders; 90% are women and children. A large number of our clients are disabled and/or homeless. We also serve transgender individuals, as well as, females on an individual basis. Several of our clients speak another language; currently we have staff capacity to offer groups in Cape Verdean Creole, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Portuguese. If someone joins one of our groups and speaks a language outside our staff capacity, we provide translation/interpreter services.