Dr. Astrid Heppenstall Heger is the Executive Director of the Violence Intervention Program (VIP), located at the Los Angeles County (LAC) + University of Southern California (USC) Medical Center, where she is also a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics. In 1984, she founded the Center for the Vulnerable Child (CVC) for the evaluation of child abuse. This was the first medically-based Child Advocacy Center in the world and currently evaluates over 20,000 child abuse and child sexual assault victims every year. Dr. Heger is the pre-eminent expert in the field of child sexual abuse and assault and the author of numerous articles in this field, as well as the definitive textbook “Evaluation of the Sexually Abused Child,” now in its second edition.

Noong 1995, itinatag niya ang una sa uri nito, "one stop shop" na pamayanan ng Advocacy Center ng Pamilya, na nag-aalok ng serbisyong medikal, kalusugang pangkaisipan, proteksiyon, ligal, at serbisyong panlipunan sa mga biktima ng karahasan sa pamilya at pang-aabusong sekswal sa buong County ng Los Angeles. Noong 1999, nagtaguyod si Dr. Heger ng isang Koponan para sa Pangangalaga ng Matanda at isang Elder Abuse Forensic Center upang magbigay ng parehong direktang serbisyo sa mga matatandang may mataas na peligro at umaasa na mga may sapat na gulang ngunit upang tulungan din ang mga propesyonal sa panlipunan, ligal, medikal at pangkaisipan na sinisingil sa pangangalaga ng pinaka-mahina populasyon Bilang karagdagan sa mga serbisyo para sa pinakabata at pinakamatanda, ang VIP ay patuloy na nagbibigay ng 24/7 na serbisyo sa mga biktima ng sekswal na pananakit at karahasan sa tahanan.

Starting in 2004, Dr. Heger implemented a model “HUB” program with services for children at risk for or already in foster care. This clinical program incorporates 24/7 forensic and medical assessments with an ongoing medical home with built-in mental health services as well as support services that include dental care, plastic surgery, mentoring and tutoring. As more and more children were evaluated prior to foster place, it became clear that there needed to be a “soft” landing for these children where they would receive medical and mental health services as well as food, clothing, a bath and a place to sleep and play. The “Children’s Welcome Center” (children age 0-12) and the companion center the “Youth Welcome Center” have changed the landscape of how children enter foster care and greatly improved both placement rates and permanency of placements.




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