Children and Family Services honored for assisting crime victims
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office will honor Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton’s Children and Family Services (CFS) this week for its compassion and commitment to crime victims.
The Ronald W. Reagan Award is given annually to an individual or agency that has shown a consistent commitment to victims’ rights and services; employed “extraordinary efforts” in the delivery of services; and advocated for victims via policies, protocols, legislation, and other measures.
CFS has several programs dedicated to helping crime victims recover, including Providence House Domestic Violence Services in Burlington and Ocean counties; El Centro, which serves the Latino community in Mercer County; and the Family Growth program, which primarily serves victims of sexual abuse and other trauma. CFS served more than 3,000 children and adults last year with counseling and support services to help with trauma.
A team effort
The honor comes during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, a national and state observance that started yesterday. CFS will receive the award this Friday at an event capping the week at The College of New Jersey in Ewing. The event’s theme is “Honoring the Past, Creating Hope for the Future.”
“This kind of affirmation of who we are and what we do doesn’t happen without a team effort that is agency-wide,” said Ron Gering, CFS’ director (pictured, left). “Our staff has a deep commitment and compassion for helping others and making this a better world.”
Reagan, during his tenure as U.S. President from 1981 to 1989, championed the rights and recovery of crime victims by creating the National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the President’s Task Force on Victims of Crime, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Victim of Crime Act of 1984 (VOCA), and other initiatives.
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