Thursday, February 21, 2013

Personalized Safety Plan

Personalized Safety Plan

Checklist
What you need to take when you leave:

Identification
o   Driver’s License
o   Birth Certificate
o   Children’s Birth Certificates
o   Social Security Cards

Financial
o   Money and/or credit cards (in your name)
o   Checking and/or savings account books

Legal Papers  
o   Protective Order
o   Lease, rental agreement and house deed
o   Car registration and insurance papers
o   Health and life insurance papers
o   Medical records for you and your children
o   School records
o   Work permits/Green Card/Visa
o   Passport
o   Divorce and custody papers
o   Marriage license

Other
o   Medications
o   House and car keys
o   Valuable jewelry
o   Address book
o   Pictures and sentimental items
o   Change of clothes for you and your children
o   Other


Emergency Numbers

Police Emergency Number 911

National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
1-800-787-3224 (TTY) for the Deaf

Women’s Advocacy Project
Family Violence Hotline
1-800-374-HOPE (4673)

Department of Family and Protective Services
Abuse/Neglect Hotline
1-800-252-5400

Telephone numbers in your area

Police and/or Sheriff’s Department

_____________________________

County and/or District Attorney’s Office

_____________________________

Family Violence Program Hotline

_____________________________

Hospital

_____________________________













Personal Safety Plan
Taking precautions and making plans to stay safe.

You have a right to be safe!
No one deserves to be hit or threatened. If you are being hurt by someone you love, make plans and take precautions to keep yourself and your children safe. Here are some suggestions that have helped other people in situations like yours.

Safety during an explosive incident
If there is an argument, try to be in a place that has an exit and not in a bathroom, kitchen or room that may contain weapons.
 Practice getting out of your home safely. Identify which doors, windows, elevator, or stairwell to use.
 Pack a bag, and have it ready at a friend’s or relative’s house.
 Identify one or more neighbors you can tell about the violence, and ask them to call the police if they hear a disturbance coming from your home.
 Devise a code word to use with your children, family, friends and neighbors when you need the police.
 Decide and plan where you will go if you ever have to leave home.
 Use your instincts and judgment. In some dangerous situations, give the abuser what he wants to calm him down.
Remember, you don’t deserve to be hit or threatened!

Safety when preparing to leave
 Open a checking or savings account in your own name.
 Leave money, an extra set of keys, copies of important documents and extra clothes and medicines in a safe place or with someone you trust.
 Get your own post office box.
 Identify a safe place where you can go and someone who can lend you money.
 Always keep the shelter phone number, a calling card, or some change for emergency phone calls with you.
 If you have pets, make arrangements for them to be cared for in a safe place.
Remember, leaving your batterer is the most dangerous time!


Safety with a protective order
If you or your children have been threatened or assaulted, you can request a protective order from the District/County Attorney’s Office.
 Always keep your protective order with you.
 Call the police if your partner violates the protective order.
 Inform family members, friends and neighbors that you have a protective order in effect.
 Think of alternative ways to keep safe if the police do not respond immediately.

Safety in your own residence
 If you stay in your home, lock your windows and change the locks on your doors as soon as possible.
 Develop a safety plan with your children for times when you are not with them.
 Inform your children’s school, day care, etc., about who has permission to pick up your children.
 Inform neighbors and the landlord that your partner no longer lives with you, and that they should call the police if they see him/her near your home.
 Never tell the abuser where you live. Never call the abuser from your home because the abuser may find out where you live.
 Request an unlisted/unpublished number from the telephone company.

Safety on the job and in public
A. Inform someone at work of your situation. Include the security officers at work and provide them with a picture of your batterer.
B. Have someone screen your telephone calls at work.
C. Have someone escort you to and from your car, bus or train.
D. Use a variety of routes to come and go from home.

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