FSN in dire need of a working Board- Judith Charles
In an exclusive interview with Charles, Virgin Islands News Online was told that only herself (Charles) and Mr Roy Barry, who is the Treasurer, are functioning on the Board.
She is now making an appeal to persons who may wish to serve on the Board to come forward.
“I would really love to see a good working Board, people who are really committed. You don’t have to know anything at all about domestic violence; you don’t have to have experience. I knew nothing about domestic violence 7 years ago; neither did Mr [Roy] Barry. Mr Barry knew less than I did we have been involved with it for seven years and no one has come forward so far in the last seven years and said to us, other than people who came to volunteer, we want to help you on the board. I have actually gone and asked people and they have agreed but nobody has said Judith you have been the President for seven years that is long enough let me take it over for you.”
According to Charles, she and Mr Barry cannot do the work alone as they are also kept busy with other responsibilities.
“Mr Barry is very busy. He has been given a lot of responsibilities on his job and in other areas and so he would like to sort of stop being the Treasurer but he has said to me I really can’t walk away because if there isn’t anybody to replace me then I can’t just walk away from it, and I can appreciate that because I can’t just walk away either. We need to have solid, committed people in place before we can do that because and I don’t mean to sound egotistical well like if I give it up it’s (FSN) going to go away but there is a real need for the Family Support Network in the Virgin Islands.”
Charles revealed that in October alone FSN saw some 27 clients. “And the numbers vary from year to year about the same way that crime is growing in the community and you have seen from the police statistics the numbers for 2012 are almost twice compared to 2011 and that was the number just up to August 31."
According to statistics from the Royal Virgin islands Police Force (RVIPF), in 2009 there were 69 reported cases of domestic violence, 8 of those involved assault occasioning actual bodily harm and 46 were common assault; in 2010 there were 84 reported cases, 15 were assault occasioning actually bodily harm and 51 common assault; in 2011 the number climbed to 87 with 23 cases of assault occasioning actual bodily harm while 39 were regarded as common assault.
Up to the end of August 2012, there were 124 reported cases of Domestic Violence with 25 classified as assault occasioning actually bodily harm, 63 common assaults and one murder.
“There are people out there in need of FSN’s services. I don’t go to the office and see the clients, I have a job aside from FSN, I don’t even have a key to the office because what goes on at FSN is confidential. So as President I am not privileged to know who goes there or what they go there for as I get general reports on those things but recently a young lady introduced herself to me and thanked me for helping to keep FSN open. And she told me all her story and how she came there and all that happened to her. That is very unusual because people don’t always want you to know who they are but when she said thank you I felt good because FSN has touched this young woman’s life and that is important.”
Charles reiterated the point that she would like to see a serious Board come together to keep Family Support Network open because the issue of domestic violence was not a figment of her imagination and that the numbers and statistics provided by the staff last year weren’t made up either.
“So it’s a real organisation that helps real people every day and to me, unless some other agency or the Department of Health is going to open a victim rescue and counselling centre like FSN then FSN cannot go away. It has been going for 23 years. It was started by the people in the Anglican Church as a support group and it grew from that little support group of two ladies sitting on the church steps waiting for people to show up and tell them their troubles to what it is now. So while it may need to change to go with the flow, while things might need to change to work with the financial situation we have, of the staffing situation we have, the fact is people still walk into that office every single day. If they don’t walk in they call in. So without FSN, its volunteers, and the functions performed there are going to be some people in this country in trouble and unless there is a replacement resource you going to have some pain in the community, more than you have right now,” Charles envisaged.
Regarding staff at FSN, Charles said Dr. Sylvia Simmonds is the main counsellor and while Dr. Simmonds is volunteering her service she (Charles) hopes that the doctor stars and that FSN would be financially secure enough to pay her something. “But she has actually agreed to come in and she is working on things that need to be worked on and she is seeing clients.”
There are also two clerical volunteers, including an Annemarie Baltimore.
“Annemarie works with the phone so at the end of the day when FSN closes the phone switches to cell phone and the crisis line comes on. She has actually offered to take control of that and work with the other volunteers and set up a schedule for them. She has done a lot of training in the office with the clerical staff...All these people have come out to help out and they are all volunteering at the moment,” Charles said.
Family Support Network is a non-governmental organization whose primary aim is to aid individuals, couples and families affected by relationships that are unhealthy.
Family Support Network (FSN) was established in 1989 as a volunteer organization under the auspices of the BVI Christian Council to support families in distress. Today, FSN operates indirectly under the auspices of the Christian Council as a non-profit organization.
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