On the blog this month, Executive Director Chris Purnell urged us to fight with love and compassion, and we got to know Low Income Taxpayer Clinic Paralegal Kim Smith. We took a close look at our partner, Brookside Community Development Corporation, and the work they're doing to serve their neighborhood. We also introduced you to our Financial Counseling program, run by our Financial Counselor Angie Simmons. And, in honor of National Crime Victims' Rights Week this April, we shared the story of a client we are assisting through our Victim Justice Program.

One day, Marta returned from work to find him and their baby missing. When he finally came home, he didn’t have the baby with him. “He was super drunk and just kept saying, ‘She’s gone,’ over and over again,” says Erica. Desperate, Marta contacted the police, and a search began—but they never found the baby. Marta’s abuser was charged with the murder of their child. “They interviewed him multiple times and his story kept changing,” Erica says. “[Marta] cooperated with the police and testified against him.” He was eventually convicted.

“[Her abuser] would force himself on her and would tell her that, ‘You’re my girlfriend—this is what you’re supposed to do,’” says Grecia. “She thought it was okay and she blamed it on herself because one incident did occur in front of her daughter.” According to Grecia, Josefina became even more wracked with guilt when her daughter, who was very young and who loved her father, begged her, “Please don’t send Daddy to jail.”

She contemplated taking her two children and leaving him, but this option was fraught. “Her husband threatened her that if she ever left and took their son, he would track her down, kill her, and kill anyone who helped her leave,” says Kelsey Raves, Clinic Victim Justice Program (VJP) Staff Attorney.