Not all of the points on this safety plan will apply to your situation. Choose the suggestions that make sense for you.

GENERAL SAFETY PLAN

  • Identify a variety of ways to get out of your home safely and practice using your escape route.
  • Pack a bag with medications, important documents, money, keys, etc., and hide it. Consider changing the hiding spot if the abuser searches your home.
  • Arrange a signal with neighbors to let them know when you need help (turning on a porch light during the day, pulling down a particular window shade).
  • Devise a code word to use with your children, grandchildren, friends or others to indicate that you need the police.
  • Devise a safety plan for your children which includes the following when violence occurs:
    • find a safe place in your house away from the violence
    • never try to stop the fight because you could get hurt
    • call 911 for help
    • tell the operator where you are, your address and what is happening in your house.

  • Decide and plan where you will go if you have to leave (even if you don’t think you will need to).

SAFETY IN INTERNET/TECHNOLOGY

  • Update your Privacy Settings.
  • Consider closing all your accounts.
  • Consider changing your phone and phone number.
  • Learn more about social network safety.

SAFETY IN EXPLOSIVE INCIDENTS

  • Try to go to a room or area with access to an exit. Avoid rooms with no outside doors and those containing potential weapons (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, garage).
  • Try to stay in a room with a phone to call 911, a friend, or neighbor.
  • Inform law enforcement if weapons are in the home.
  • Visualize your escape route and be prepared to use it if a safe opportunity arises.
  • Use your code word or special signal to tell your children or neighbors to call 911.
  • Use your instinct and judgment to safely assess what to do next.

SAFETY WHEN LEAVING

  • Open a savings account in your own name at a different bank. Consider direct deposit of your paycheck or benefit check. Begin to increase your independence.
  • Leave money, an extra set of keys, copies of important documents and extra clothes with someone you trust.
  • Have the abuser’s social security number and license plate number with you to provide to the police.
  • Bring medications, prescriptions, hearing aids, glasses etc.
  • Determine who would let you stay with them or lend you money.
  • Keep the domestic violence program number with you and have some change at all times for emergency phone calls.
  • If you are 60 years or older, contact Adult Protective Services to learn more about eligibility for public and private benefits and services.
  • Review your safety plan regularly to plan the safest way to leave.

SAFETY IN YOUR OWN HOME

(If the abuser does not live with you)

  • Change the locks on your doors as soon as possible. Buy additional locks and safety devices to secure your windows. Consider increasing your outside lighting.
  • If you have children or other dependents living with you, discuss a safety plan for when you are not with them. Inform their school, day care, etc., in writing, about who has permission to pick them up.
  • Inform neighbors and your landlord that the abuser no longer lives with you and they should call the police if they see the abuser near your home.

SAFETY & PROTECTION ORDERS

  • Keep your protection order with you at all times. If it is lost or destroyed, you can get another copy from the Clerk of Courts.
  • Call the police if the abuser violates the protection order.
  • If your protection order is out of state, register it with your local police and/or clerk of courts.
  • Give copies to anyone with whom your children may stay (school, day care etc.).

SAFETY IN PUBLIC

(At school, work, social, recreational, and volunteer activities)

  • Decide who to inform of your situation (school, office or building security), and provide a picture of the abuser. Consider having your phone calls screened.
  • Devise a safety plan for when you are out in public. Have someone escort you to your car, bus or taxi. Use a variety of routes to go home and consider what you would do if something happened on your way home.
  • Recognize that the abuser could use an alternate vehicle.

SAFETY & EMOTIONAL HEALTH

  • If you are considering returning to a potentially abusive situation, discuss an alternative plan with someone you trust.
  • If you have to communicate with the abuser, do so in the safest way - by phone, mail, in the company of another person etc.
  • Decide who you can talk to freely and who can provide the support you need. Consider calling a domestic violence hotline or attending a support group.

CHECKLIST

 (What to take if you leave:)

  • Driver’s license or other form of ID
  • Your birth certificate and those of family members
  • Money, bank books, checkbooks, credit cards, ATM cards, mortgage payment book
  • Social Security card, work permit, green card, passport, insurance papers, medical records
  • The abuser’s social security number, license plate number and photo, if possible
  • Divorce papers and custody papers
  • Copies of your protection order
  • Lease, rental agreement, house deed
  • Keys to house, car, office
  • Medications, glasses, hearing aids, etc. for you and your children or other dependents
  • Personal items like address book, pictures, etc.