Safety Planning
Are you being abused and planning to leave?
- Do not tell your partner that you’re thinking of leaving.
- When you do leave, take your children with you.
- Plan your emergency exits.
- Save as much cash as you can.
- Keep emergency phone numbers with you at all times.
- Set aside money for a taxi and coins or phone cards for payphones.
- Take valuable documents: passports, birth certificates, marriage certificates, immigration papers, health cards, SIN cards, bank books and bank cards.
- Legal Documents: Divorce papers, order of protection orders, restraining orders, custody papers
- Take any prescription medications for you and your kids.
- If possible, bring documents that prove you have been living at the same address as your partner.
- Lease or rental agreement, house deed, mortgage payment book
- Jewelry or small things you can sell
- Address book
- Open a bank account in your name or in the name of a person you trust. Make sure bank statements are not mailed to your home.
- Hide extra clothing, house keys, car keys, money etc. at a trusted friend’s house.
- Have an emergency suitcase packed, if possible.
- Include some special toys and comforts for your children.
- Irreplaceable items and sentimental items such as photographs.
Leaving the Home:
- Where is the Abuser? Inside the home or outside the hom?
- Where are the Children? Inside the home or outside the home? If outside the home, pick up arrangements:_________________________________________
- Identify which doors, windows, elevator, or stairs would be safe and easily accessible.
- Have a packed bag ready. Keep it in an accessible place in order to leave quickly.
- Transportation: Do you have a car, is their gas in the car? Are you taking a bus? Do you have tickets or do will you take a taxi?
- If its unsafe to wait for a taxi in your home; are you able to go to a neighbors’ house or a close public area ex. coffee shop to wait for a taxi
- If the situation is very dangerous, use your own instinct and judgment to keep yourself safe.
85%
of women who came to Ernestine`s Women Shelter found affordable housing through the Housing Program.
