The local safe house is more than just a house. Safe, in this case, is SAAF which is an acronym for Safe Alternatives for Abused Families. The agency provides many services. The seven employees and three contracted employees “wear many hats,” according to Melandie Deplazes, Executive Director.
They may serve as crime victim witness appearing in court either with the victim or without them on their behalf, assist with notifications of court findings, court dates, and court locations, and preparing victim impact statements for compensation. These are statements for the court that “explain how the abuse has impacted their (the victim’s) life, did they require a trip to the emergency room, hospitalization, lost wages due to inability to go to work, medical bills, or property damage.” They may serve as a liaison between the victim and the State’s Attorney, attend hearings with the victim and on rare occasions, in their place, and provide updates. There are 24-hour adult/child advocacy, 24-hour crisis hotline, public education, offender treatment programs, therapy services and prevention programs.
The SAAF Program here is unique because it is the only community that has a Sexual Assault Examiner Nurse or (SANE) to provide pediatric and adult forensic medical exam (rape kit). The agency has its own medical examining room. Nobody wants to sit in the emergency room waiting room until you can be seen, after a brutal assault and being raped.
The service area that SAAF includes six counties: Ramsey, Benson, Towner, Wells, Nelson, and Eddy. Melandie is the executive director, and she is a certified advocate within the state of North Dakota and is Nationally credentialed. She may provide direct services such as medical accompaniment for domestic violence and sexual assault.
Shelter Services are provided to men, women, and children. Children under 18 need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian. The emergency shelter may be temporary which would be up to 30 days or transitional which could be up to 24 months. “The cost is free. We provide everything while they are with us, hygiene products, food, baby items, for clothing the clients are referred to The Helping Hands Closet. Food comes from the food pantry.
The shelter is never empty and, yes, there have been men in the shelter.
In fact, here is a snapshot of this year’s stats from January 1 – Sept 30:
15 Families in Shelter with a total of 1737 bed nights,
265 Crisis/Hotline Calls
Domestic Violence victims served were 90 and out of those 6 were male.
Sexual Assault victims served were 19 and out of those 1 were male
18 presentations with 339 attendees
There have been cases when an abuser has shown up, and when that happens, law enforcement is called, and the victim is relocated to a different secure location. These locations are very secure and under surveillance at all times, and security cameras are constantly monitored.
Typically, these victims do go back to their abuser, Melandie said “at least eight times before leaving for good.”
Ninety percent of the dollars used to pay employees, provide, shelter and services to the victims, and regular overhead expenses come from State and Federal grants, additional dollars come from county or private donations. If you are interested contributing, you may send your donation through the mail at SAAF PO Box 646 Devils Lake, ND 58301, or you may stop into the office to drop off your donation and the office does have a credit card machine so that is an option, too. They are located at 223 4th Street NE here in Devils Lake. Their website is https://www.saafnd.org/.
