Preparing to leave
- Keep with you any useful telephone numbers or try to learn them
- Photocopy or know where important documents are such as marriage and birth certificates, passports, financial papers.
- Open a savings account in your own name to establish your independence. Make sure the bank has a safe address to contact you
- Try and get an extra set of keys cut for the house, car etc. and leave them together with an extra set of clothes for you and your children in a bag, and leave it with a trusted neighbour, friend or keep it in a safe place.
- Decide who you could stay with, and if the need arises, who would lend you some money.
- Try and keep some spare change or a phone card with you at all times for emergencies. Keep spare change for taxis and bus fares if needed.
- Arrange to leave when your partner is not around.
- Keep all medicines for you and your children together in a box.
In a crisis situation your safety is vital. If you are planning to leave, you may want to take the following:
- Driver’s License
- Car Registration
- Child’s Birth Certificate
- Your Birth Certificate
- Rent Book
- Benefit Books
- Mortgage Papers
- Personal/Home Insurance
- House Keys
- Passport
- Non-Molestation Papers
- Money
- Jewellery
- Toiletries
- Clothes – You and your Children
- Medication
- Photographs
