Family Advocacy Center of Northern Minnesota (FACNM) serves children who have been sexually abused, neglected, or traumatized by witnessing violence. FACNM provides friendly, family-supportive services in one central location.

Our goal is to ensure that every child in Northern Minnesota who has been traumatized by sexual or physical abuse, or by witnessing homicide or domestic violence receives immediate, compassionate and effective investigation and assessment. FACNM never charges for its services and we never place time limits on healing.

Before child advocacy centers were created, child victims of crime often had to tell their stories to more than a dozen adults - police officers, prosecutors, doctors and social workers. They could be shuttled all over town giving depositions and getting medical exams. There was very little coordination between the various agencies and children were traumatized all over again as they sought help. In some of the saddest cases, abused children simply fell through the cracks in the system that was supposed to save them.

Today, all of the services needed by child victims and their families - forensic interviews, medical exams, referrals, and victim support services - are clustered around one central location. FACNM is the hub where representatives from many disciplines meet to discuss and make decisions about the investigation, assessment, treatment and prosecution of child abuse cases. They work together in the best interests of the children, providing an immediate response and ongoing support to help children and families recover from the trauma of abuse or violence.