creating hope, healing lives, changing community
Family Advocate Center
In October of 2014, Safelight and Pisgah Legal Services joined forces to create the Henderson County Family Advocacy Center for victims of interpersonal violence and abuse. This community partnership assists survivors by providing a central location for easy access to services and resources for legal advocacy, law enforcement and emergency room advocacy. In 2025, we hope to offer medical services and sexual assault forensic exams as an alternative to going to the hospital.The Family Advocacy Center (FAC) is an accredited Family Justice Center and staff work to empower, educate, and counsel adult victims in Henderson County with legal and court room advocacy. Professionals from different disciplines work together to provide consolidated and coordinated safety, legal, and social services to individuals and families in need. Our FAC also is a resource for community outreach and education throughout Henderson County.
- Advocates empower, educate, and counsel survivors through emotional support within medical, court, child welfare and other systems of care
- Survivor Advocacy for hearings
- Assistance in filing protection orders
- Safety planning
- Talking to law enforcement and district attorney's office
- Response to area hospitals for support and advocacy after a domestic or sexual violence incident.
- Legal professionals assisting with legal questions and issues
- Case management support with referrals to resources in the community
- Camp Hope America Program for youth
- Lethality Assessment Program with local law enforcement
Located at:
317 N Washington St
Hendersonville, NC
Contact Us
Email
828.693.3840
828.513.8003
Additional Resources
Interpersonal ViolenceSafelight Rack Card
Rack Card-Spanish
Online References
In 2022, we started working towards building North Carolina's second 24/7 community-based sexual assault forensic examination center. Coming in 2025, Forensic examinations with a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) will be available at no cost to survivors and does not require reporting with law enforcement.
- Serves any gender survivor aged 18 years and older assaulted within the past 5 days (120 hours) without injuries that require medical attention.
- 24/7 on call scheduling care.
- Survivors of interpersonal violence (i. e. domestic violence and sexual assault) access support services with a trained Safelight advocate. Advocates can link in law enforcement at survivor's request.
- Expert Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) does forensic evidence collection in a private, confidential, and safe location onsite at Safelight.
- Process includes obtaining consent for examination, client interview, examination and forensic evidence collection that can be used in prosecution, discharge/follow up.
The mission of Camp HOPE Henderson County is to help children in our community who have been exposed to violence find pathways to HOPE and healing. Camp HOPE includes Pathways, a year-round program with monthly activities and group mentorship, and a weeklong residential camp experience. In this program, we praise campers for the person they are becoming; seeing their character for who they are and believing in what they can accomplish. The goal is to create an atmosphere where youth can feel safe, seen, heard, encouraged, and cared for.
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Safelight works with local law enforcement to link survivors to our supportive resources even faster as we partner with Fletcher Police Department, Hendersonville Police Department, Laurel Park Police Department, and the Henderson County Sheriff's Office through the Lethality Assessment Program (LAP). The LAP partnership began in 2022 and is through the North Carolina Department of Justice.
The Lethality Assessment Program (LAP) is an evidenced based model (out of Maryland) supported by the U.S. Department of Justice to provide a standard of practice to reduce intimate partner homicide, increase victim safety and enhances collaboration in our community. The purpose is to save lives by connecting victims to community-based services, holding the abuser accountable, and creating awareness of lethality factors for victims in our community. The first responding law enforcement officer immediately connects the victim to the Safelight hotline for emergency safety planning and enhanced service provision. This helps Safelight staff to respond, assess, and connect survivors to our advocates with resources for our programs and services.
Safelight is also providing law enforcement with stuffed black bears to keep in their vehicles to give out to children who have experienced or witnessed domestic/interpersonal violence or abuse.
Leigh Anne came to the FAC seeking a protection order and assistance with criminal charges against her husband. We connected her with Pisgah Legal Services, accompanied her to interviews with law enforcement and multiple court dates, and were there with her when her protection order was granted.
Once the order expired, she attempted to co-parent with her estranged husband for about two years, until he was arrested again for abusing her. Her advocate assisted her with re-connecting with Pisgah Legal Services, obtaining a protection order, and taking out multiple protection order violations with the magistrate office. After the third report of violations, her advocate coordinated with Hendersonville Police Department on securing Leigh Anne's abusers' arrest.
Leigh Anne has remained very brave throughout these difficult times, and has displayed inspiring resilience, strength, and hope.
