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PHASE, Inc.
516 Green St., Rockford, IL 61102
Phone: 815-962-0871SERVING NORTH-CENTRAL ILLINOIS
SINCE 1955
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PHASE Inc
Mission:
PHASE/WAVE is a
health and human services agency that helps adults and
their children deal with problems arising from substance
abuse or domestic violence.
More specifically the agency seeks to:
1. Through intervention, prevent the continuing cycles
of domestic violence and substance abuse.
2. Facilitate the coordination of services for those
people experiencing these problems with others who are
also trying to help with these problems.
3. Inform and educate the community about substance
abuse and domestic violence and serve as an advocate for
those experiencing these problems.
PHASE stands for Personal Health/Abuse Services and
Education. WAVE stands for Working Against Violent
Environments. The Agency is a private, not-for-profit
-501 (c) (3) – organization governed by a voluntary
Board of Directors. It was founded in 1955 and
incorporated in 1959
Services PHASE / WAVE Provides:
PHASE substance abuse treatment
programs offers adult and adolescent outpatient and
intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment, Driver
Remedial Education for DUI offenders and ancillary
methadone medication services.
WAVE provides the following services: 24-hour emergency
shelter; crisis hotline; medical advocacy; legal
advocacy; individual and group counseling; economic,
educational and employment assistance; life and
parenting skills; children’s counseling; educational
advocacy; structured activities for the children to bond
with the custodial parent; screening and advocacy for an
array of children’s needs both physical and
developmental; contractual children’s therapy and
specialized programming relative to victims with
substance abuse or mental illness.
We go the extra mile for children in shelter and their
needs to continue their educational goals. Upon entry to
the shelter, families with children are asked to permit
contact with the local school district so that education
can continue seamlessly. We advocate with the child’s
school district for transportation from the shelter and
back each day. If the child is not enrolled in school we
provide transportation to the Family Resource Center for
registration and then to the selected school for
registration. If the child is too young for school, we
work with the Early Childhood Program at Dennis School
to have the child screened for delays relative to the
exposure to trauma and see what services the program or
even Head Start has to offer the toddler. If it is
unsafe for the child to attend school, arrangements will
be made for home schooling within the shelter including
tutoring. Assistance with school supplies, lunches and
uniforms is also provided.
Our staff provide very specific legal advocacy at the
Domestic Violence Assistance Center (DVAC) in the lower
level of the Winnebago County Courthouse. The process
begins by examining each victim’s situation. Through
education about domestic violence and the process of
legal remedies available by getting an Order of
Protection (OP) the victim can best determine if she
will be safer with an Order of Protection or if in fact
an order would make her more unsafe. From there, the
victim is assisted with completing the on-line order of
protection process where the facts of the case are
stated and particular remedies to make the victim safe
are selected. Currently, all petitions for an OP (a
total of 30 to 35 printed pages) are completed on line
which can be quite intimidating for victims of abuse.
The victim is then assisted with providing the Clerks’
Office with their petition and also accompanied to court
for the hearing, obtaining a copy of the OP and seeing
that the Civil Process division receives the OP for
serving. In two weeks, when the Emergency OP is about to
expire, advocates remind the victim of the next court
date and accompany the victim to that hearing which will
include facing her abuser in court. During CY 2007 staff
assisted with 873 orders of protection at the DVAC and
were successful in having 70% of the victims return for
the final order. In contrast, the Clerks’ Office
reported a total of 1502 OP’s in CY07 – we assisted with
more than 50% of all orders – and a return rate of only
33%.
If a victim can attain safety through an order of
protection, the more costly intervention of a shelter
stay can be avoided. An order of protection is
particularly helpful in keeping the abuser away from the
victim and children after his arrest for domestic
violence and release on bond.
WAVE staff also provide training, public outreach and
institutional advocacy specific to the legal and other
systems.
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