Victim Advocacy

The OSSA is located on the first floor of the District Administration Building at 440 N. Broad Street.  It is open from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm each week day.  Parents/caregivers and students are welcome to drop-in at any time.  In the 2021-2022 school year, 43 caregivers entered the OSSA, and in 2022-2023, 45 caregivers entered the OSSA either as walk-ins or called in for assistance.  The complainants came into the office with the following issues.

​OSSA staff members assist students who are victims of violence. Assistance includes working with the student, their family, schools, police, district attorney's office, and community providers, to name a few, to provide them with the resources to move forward.  The chart below depicts the referrals that were made for students and their families.  

In 2022-2023 the OSSA contacted 368 parents/caregivers of students who were victims of violence.  The OSSA receives a weekly incident report from the District.  Working with the Victims Services Specialists through the District Attorney's Office, we were able to assist more families by connecting with them and making referrals when needed.

The District's Office of Student Discipline oversees the hearing process for student offenders and victims. The role of the OSSA is to contact the victims' parents/caregivers before the hearing to discuss the hearing process, assure that their child is receiving services when needed, work with the school and District on safety plans, and attend the hearing with the victim.  In the 2021-2022 school year, OSSA staff attended 183 out of 202 (91%) victim hearings. In the 2022-2023 school year, the Victims Services Specialists attended 92 victim hearings. The following chart provides the percentages for the breakdown of the incidents associated with the school codes.

Connections Within the Community

Joining Forces:  The Philadelphia School District's Victim Assistance Specialist, Office of School Safety, joined forces with OSSA in 2022-23 to determine the best path to take for each student that comes through our door. This allows for a comprehensive approach in victim advocacy. The District's Victim Assistance Specialist (VAS) is a critical member of the School Safety team who supports children and families to ensure they have a consistent and comprehensive network of support and services when victimized by school-related crime.

Victim Advocacy Assistance - Additional Supports for the School District of Philadelphia. Released in June of 2022, this solicitation was designed to support the OSSA in assisting students who are victims of violence and their families. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office Victim-Witness Unit was selected as the recipient of this grant in the beginning of the 2022-23 school year.  They are responsible for providing a direct connection to victim service provider services and other agencies/organizations within the community. 

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