May 2019 by Miss Charlene
An abusive relationship sent me to Family Haven. Living there, I felt as if I left one abusive relationship and got into another one. The staff members were always angry and they created the same hostile environment I ran away from. Asking them to get up from their desk to open the front door to let you in aggravated them. Asking them for any type of help aggravated them! It was in the low 20 degrees one night, and one of the mothers residing in the shelter asked (since the room she was living in at the shelter had no heater) the manager if Family Haven could get a small heater for her room because her and her children were very cold. The shelter manager told her no, and said she should be happy she has a place to lay her head. She says the shelter manager then gave her a dirty look and walked off. All the other rooms had heaters, the staff members had heaters in their office, but there was no heater in her room. One of the statements in their mission says that they increase self-sufficiency, when in fact they do the total opposite. A fellow victim of domestic violence that was residing there was crying to me that the shelter staff members would not give her a ride to work. It would have been her first day going to work, but since the shelter staff would not give her a ride, she was fired on her first day. She had no money to take a Taxi. No money to ride a bus. Family Haven has a new/nice ride parked out front, but they don't use it to take the victims (that are usually there from another county or state with no car) anywhere. How are you helping the victims become self sufficient if you refuse to take them to work to obtain a paycheck so that they can at some point become self sufficient enough to take themselves? They informed her that their car was to grocery shop for the victims of the shelter. I am wondering what they were shopping for. There was never any food there, Only the expired donations that they received from Publix. Actually, I did notice them one time only bringing in food that they had purchased from the grocery store. That was also the time that they informed us that the state representatives were coming there the following day. So, yes, they had to have food there so that they could pretend they were appropriating the funds the state gives them correctly, although they actually aren't. Family Haven says that they are non profit, but guess what, the staff members are profiting very well! One of the victims that was residing there called and told me when it was time for her to leave the shelter, they had her complete exit paperwork in the office. She says when the staff got up to open the front door, she took a peek in her file. There was a form in her file that showed that Family Haven had written and given her a check a month prior. The only problem was, they had never given her a check. I feel they do things like this all the time. They had a blank form for me to sign about things they were providing to me upon my exit. One of the lines was for a check. I wrote in the lines''no check provided''. They also had requested I leave the lines empty and don't list the toiletries they were providing me with. They requested I sign the form and stated they would list the toiletries. Sounds to me like they wanted me to sign it and they go back in and write a bunch of services and things they gave me, although no such things were provided. To anyone that has been abused, Family Haven is not the place to go. You will be walking on eggshells just like you were in the abusive relationship you are attempting to run from. The staff are mean and could care less that you were abused. They actually make you feel worse if your not strong. They won't help you with anything because they feel it takes away from their pockets. Family Haven is running a scam on its financial donors and sponsors. I think it's time someone sheds some light on the abuse received in Family Haven when your fleeing from domestic violence.
