NEW YORK (AP)--The city on Monday announced plans to open an office with the sole mission of helping family members of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack obtain all available benefits.

The Family Assistance Office will help guide spouses, children and other close family members through the maze of benefit and assistance programs that have emerged in the wake of the attack.

With many assistance organizations overlapping the efforts of others, some family members of the estimated 3,000 victims of the World Trade Center attack have complained that attempts to obtain financial aid have turned into bureaucratic nightmares.

Consultants provided by the Family Assistance Office will work with the families to help them gain access to whatever benefits are available from private and government sources.

"As New York City continues to mourn and recover from this tragedy, we're committed to helping the families that lost loved ones in the World Trade Center attack," Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said in a statement.

The office is scheduled to open on Wednesday. It will operate Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and will be located at the city's Human Resources Administration headquarters in lower Manhattan.

The city said it will contact all affected families to alert them to the new resource.

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