Victim Support and Assistance

Program Objectives

This program aims to ensure adequate support services for child victims and their families, particularly during the investigations and prosecutions of their offenders. 

  • Access to Support Services

    increase access to quality gender-sensitive and child-focused support services and legal protection, for child victims and their families

  • Coordinated Response

    increase coordination and collaboration between law enforcement, judiciary and other child protection services for the provision of child-focused support for child victims and their families

  • Child-friendly Justice

    improve adherence to the required standards of child-friendly court proceedings, and enable victims to achieve justice during their journey to rehabilitation and reintegration

Crisis Intervention Support

APLE team of trained social work staff provide immediate crisis interventions and psycho-social support to rescued child victims. The team conducts the specific needs assessment of each victim, based on their unique experiences and gender and makes appropriate referrals to the wide network of partner organizations for them to provide longer-term psycho-social, and other support services.

Legal Service

APLE legal team helps child victims and their families with legal advice, representation and assistance as they are pursuing justice in court. The legal service is available for child victims and their families throughout the court proceedings. To ensure effective legal remedies and reparations, the team collaborates with the relevant government institutions, law enforcement agencies, child right organizations and pro bono lawyer network to assist child victims in bringing civil claims to both local and foreign court jurisdictions.

Referral to Specialist Care and Support

Formal partnerships with government and NGO service providers are established and strengthened to increase referrals and adequate resources for child victims and their families. We develop and implement a robust Case Management System to manage referrals to specialist services, according to the government policy/ guideline. We ensure services are age-appropriate, gender-sensitive and accessible to child victims from the start to the end of their legal proceedings.

Partnership

APLE partners with government and NGO service providers for referrals of child victims to appropriate long-term support services. We play an integral coordinating role in assessing the needs of child victims and their families and ensuring they receive access to comprehensive support services. Key partners in the service provision include the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) and their provincial departments (DoSVY), the Ministry of Women Affairs at national and subnational levels, and other NGOs providing child protection services who are members of the Family Care First network.