SHARI KASTEIN: Family Crisis Centers is an amazing agency that serves 17 counties in northwest Iowa, providing comprehensive domestic violence services. We work with people that are escaping a violent situation that need a safe refuge in which they can gain their safety back.
WOMAN: How are you feeling right now?
SHARI KASTEIN: We also have a WISH unit--Western Iowa Survivors of Homicide--and we serve 29 counties in the western third of Iowa.
What would be the most severe incident that you would have on your scale?
I came here about 21 years ago and started serving victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. It was a very small program with no emergency housing, and I remember, as a survivor myself, thinking we needed to be able to provide outlets for survivors.
In 1984, I found myself getting a protection order from my abusive husband. It wasn't too long after that that a friend who had helped us move and get away from the abusive husband, brutally beat my daughter. Lots of head injuries, bite marks throughout her body, and she had been raped. She was only 15 months old.
And I remember just praying and thinking, "God, what do I do?" Somebody believed in me when Melissa was hurt. They helped us through the court proceedings. And I started studying just what they did and how they did it, and really looking at how I could reinvent this. So I decided that we're going to make access to services in rural northwest Iowa feasible and do it well.
The Family Crisis Center has grown from a domestic violence/sexual assault unit to now being known as one of the leading agencies in the state for homicide work and definitely our domestic violence work.
There's a whole lot of people that need care, and so I just continue to do it. My life has really been about saving and changing lives, and that's what's important.
