It was bad enough that Alejandra's husband had beaten and threatened to kill her and their five children for a dozen years.

But the attacks became even more brutal after the economy tanked, the husband lost his job and seven family members had to squeeze into a single room.

"I was hit and kicked and punched - in the past couple of years it was almost every day," said Alejandra, 32, of Panorama City, tears rolling down her cheeks.

In April, she added, "my two oldest daughters told me he was sexually molesting them."

Alejandra is one of 150 victims of domestic violence getting help at the Valley Family Service Center, a family counseling and educational service agency in San Fernando.

Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of families seeking help at the center has doubled. The number of serious domestic violence cases being prosecuted by the City Attorney's Office has jumped 10 percent.

Women, experts say, have borne the brunt of anger and frustration over lost jobs, foreclosed homes, repossessed cars and overdrawn bank accounts.

"You can't imagine what these people are going through, and yet they manage to survive," said Maria Leyva, coordinator for domestic violence programs at the Valley center run by the Catholic Sisters of Charity, which serves families from Santa Clarita to Long Beach.

"It's the economy. ... It's the stress. And the alcohol, because the violence doubles. And the fear to leave, for the women, is even worse."

But not all statistics support a surge in physical abuse.

Los Angeles police say violence against spouses and children has declined since the recession began.

There have been 9,331 domestic violence cases reported citywide this year, compared with 9,565 during the first nine months of 2008, a decrease of 2.4 percent. The number of cases in the San Fernando Valley has remained static - about 3,500, officials say.

The year-to-date comparison in child/spousal abuse since 2007 shows a decrease of 1.5 percent, according to Los Angeles Police Department statistics.

"During the recession, we have not seen an increase in any Part 1 (violent) crimes, including child/spousal abuse," said Detective Jeff Godown. "The bottom line is these two categories are down."

At the office of City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, the Family Violence Unit saw no increase in the number of domestic assault cases between September 2007 and today, or 6,300 assaults per year.

But during that same period, cases involving repeat offenders or those involving severe injuries rose 10 percent.

"There's just more stress," said Lara Bloomquist, supervising attorney for 10 lawyers in the unit. "It makes people more violent than they were before."

The problem for some has become so severe that hundreds of government officials, service providers and mental health professionals will meet in Los Angeles on Tuesday for a policy summit called End Violence Against Women.

"What we're hearing from people who provide services to this group of women is that we're seeing an increase in the number of women seeking assistance for shelter from domestic violence," said Julie Mairs, chair of the summit and a past president of summit host Soroptimist International of Los Angeles.

At the same time, she said, funding has decreased for women's shelters across the city - the best havens for domestic violence.

It was in April, after her husband was jailed on sexual abuse charges, that Alejandra was referred to the Valley Family Center.

Founded in 1987 by the nonprofit Sisters of Charity, the $5.7 million mission-style center in downtown San Fernando has become a get-well agency for thousands of needy families.

By day, about 200 women and their children receive domestic violence and sexual abuse counseling.

Each afternoon, failing teens attend an after-school Learning Center for homework and computer classes. And at night, the 165 mostly fathers who abuse their families receive court-ordered violence-prevention therapy. In addition, many also attend couples counseling or classes on how to be good dads.

At the center's heart are Irish-born Sisters Una Connally and Carmel Somers, whose spiritual mission is to help the poor.

"I tend to be a visionary," said Sister Somers, executive director of the center and a longtime community organizer. "We can all enable each other to become our best selves.

"The mission of this center is to recognize the basic human dignity in every person, the God-given gifts that they have - and to help them reach their potential."

Alejandra is on her way.

When the raven-haired mom first passed through the center portico, she had hung her head in shame. At every turn, her husband wielded an iron fist. When she was pregnant with their first child, he abused her with his hands and feet.

When she and the children asked if they could eat, he would often withhold money to buy food.

Then two years ago, when he lost his $24,000-a-year job as a warehouse worker, they were forced to move into a single room and apply for welfare.

She got a job cleaning homes, but he threatened to report her to immigration authorities if she fled with the kids. Then he was arrested and charged with rape.

And the family has found healing at the center.

She and the children have begun to smile again, she said. And Alejandra, known for making some of the best chimichangas in town, has started a catering business.

"I'm getting so much help at the Valley Family Center," she said in Spanish through a translator. "I want to rent my own place, and start a restaurant. My kids are working with me.

"I found my God again," she added. "I am very faithful to the Virgin de Guadelupe. Before, many times I wanted to take my life; I felt I had no way out.

"But praying to the Virgin ... I am finding my way back."