It's important for domestic violence victims to develop a personalized safety plan to help protect themselves and their children from their abuser.

Safety During an Explosive Incident

• If an argument seems unavoidable, try to have it in a room or area that has access to an exit and not in the bathroom, kitchen, or anywhere near obvious weapons. Try to be in an area where others can hear you.
• Practice how to get out of your home safely. Identify which doors, windows, elevator, or stairwell would be best.
• Have bags already packed. Keep them in an undisclosed but accessible place in order to leave quickly.
• Identify a neighbor you can tell about the violence and ask that they 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 for where you will go if you have to leave home (even if you don't think you will need to).

When Preparing to Leave

• Open a savings account in your own name to start to establish or increase your independence. Think of other ways in which you can increase your independence.
• Leave money, an extra set of keys, copies of important documents and extra clothes for you and your children with someone you trust so you can leave quickly.
• Determine who would be able to let you stay with them or lend you money.
• Keep shelter and helpline phone numbers close at hand and keep some change or a calling card on you at all times for emergency phone calls.

When You Leave Take With You

• Identification
• Driver's license
• Birth certificates
• Money
• Lease, rental agreement, deeds
• Bank records and checkbook
• Insurance papers
• House and car keys
• Medications
• Medical records for all family members
• Address book
• Social security cards
• DSHS information, medical coupons
• School records
• Work permits
• Green card
• Passport
• Immigration paperwork
• Divorce papers
• Pictures
• Jewelry
• Children's small toys
• Military Identification

Your safety and the safety of your children are the first priority. Even if you can't find everything on the checklist, don't let it interfere with your safety.

In Your Own Home

• Change the locks on your doors as soon as possible. The Crystal Judson Family Justice Center or the YWCA can provide assistance with this. Buy additional locks and safety devises to secure your windows. Make sure all smoke detectors are working.
• Discuss a safety plan with your children for when you are not with them.
• Inform your children's school, daycare, etc. about who has permission to pick up your children.
• Inform neighbors and your landlord that your partner no longer lives with you and that they should call the police if they see him/her near your home.

Getting a Protection Order

• Get an Order for Protection.
• Keep your Order with you at all times.
• Call the police if your partner breaks the Order.
• Think of alternate ways to keep safe if the police are unable to respond right away.
• Inform your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and employer that you have a Order for Protection.

At Work

• Decide who at work you will inform of your situation; this should include office or building security. Provide a picture of your batterer and a description of their vehicle, if possible.
• Arrange to have someone screen your telephone calls when possible.
• Use caution when choosing a place to park your car, use parking lots that provide good lighting and security. Cars are easy targets for vandalism.
• Devise a safety plan for when you leave work. Have someone escort you to your car or public transportation. Use a variety of routes to go home by if possible. Think about what you would do if something happened while going home.

Online Safety

If you are in danger, please try to use a safer computer that someone abusive does not have direct or remote (hacking) access to.

• If you think your activities are being monitored, they probably are. Abusive people are often controlling and want to know your every move. You don?t need to be a computer programmer or have special skills to monitor someone?s computer and Internet activities ? anyone can do it and there are many ways to monitor with programs like Spyware, keystroke loggers and hacking tools.
• It is not possible to delete or clear all the 'footprints' of your computer or online activities. If you are being monitored, it may be dangerous to change your computer behaviors such as suddenly deleting your entire Internet history if that is not your regular habit.
• If you think you may be monitored on your home computer, be careful how you use your computer since an abuser might become suspicious. You may want to keep using the monitored computer for innocuous activities, like looking up the weather. Use a safer computer to research an escape plan, look for new jobs or apartments, bus tickets, or ask for help.
• Email and Instant/Text Messaging (IM) are not safe or confidential ways to talk to someone about the danger or abuse in your life. If possible, please call a hotline instead. If you use email or IM, please use a safer computer and an account your abuser does not know about.
• Computers can store a lot of private information about what you look at via the Internet, the emails and instant messages you send, internet-based phone and IP-TTY calls you make, web-based purchases and banking, and many other activities.
• It might be safer to use a computer in a public library, at a trusted friend?s house, or an Internet Café.

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