Mission Statement
Crime Victim Services' (CVS) mission is to help victims prevail over the trauma of their victimization by assisting and advocating for safety, healing, justice, and restitution. Elder Victim Ministry, a program of CVS, is a volunteer-based program that partners with law enforcement, Adult Protective Services and other community service organizations to identify and respond to at-risk or abused elders aged 60 and older. Elder victims of crime receive safety planning, trauma support, justice system advocacy, emergency financial assistance, and mediation through Elder Victim Ministry volunteers and staff. The CVS Guardian Program will support volunteer guardians in helping victims whose ongoing cognitive or physical vulnerability requires a guardian.
Description
Crime Victim Services (CVS) is a United Way based victim support program. CVS began in 1981 in Allen County as the second Victim Offender Mediation Program in the U.S., expanding to comprehensive victim services in 1985. The Putnam County office began in 1990, and is Ohio's only county with all victim services at one facility. The Family Justice Center for domestic violence victims in Putnam County opened in 2007.
Elder Victim Ministry is a program of Crime Victim Services, Inc. Begun in 1996, it is a volunteer-based Christian outreach that assists elder victims (age 60 and older) with safety planning, trauma support, support during investigations and prosecutions, emergency repairs, spiritual support and mediation services. Elders are more vulnerable to victimization due to the functional impairments to vision, hearing, mobility, and cognitive abilities that come with aging. Since July of 2011, Elder Victim Ministry has served 3,000 elder victims of violent and property crimes in Allen & Putnam Counties.
Our campaign to recruit volunteer guardians for the new CVS Guardian Program began in 2018. Coordinator Katie Campbell will support volunteer guardians of the person as they serve victims aged 18 and older who have been deemed legally incompetent in day-to-day decisions of a personal nature, including arrangements for support services, food, clothing, housing, medical care, and recreation.
