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Keeping you and your children safe is of the utmost priority when you are considering leaving a violent relationship or environment. Ensuring you have a safety plan in place will help minimise your risk of harm. The infographic and the information below may help you or someone you love.
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Download this infographic here

Some things ​to think about 
​before leaving an abusive relationship

Planning a safe exit from an abusive relationship is a necessary and important step before breaking the ties with your partner. These suggestions may improve your chances of leaving safely:
  • Let a trusted family member, friend, coworker or neighbour know your situation.
  • Develop a plan for when you need help like code words you can text if you're in trouble or a visual signal like a porch light [on equals no danger, off equals trouble].
  • If you are injured, go to a doctor or an emergency room and report what happened to you.
    Ask that they document your visit.
  • Keep a journal of all violent incidences, noting dates, events and threats made.
  • Keep evidence of physical abuse such as photos.
  • Plan with your children and identify a safe place for them. Reassure them that their job is to stay safe, not to protect you.
  • If you need to sneak away, be prepared: make a plan for how and where you will escape.
  • Back your car into the driveway and keep it fueled.
  • Keep the driver's door of your car unlocked and other doors locked for a quick escape.
  • Hide an extra set of car keys.
  • Set money aside.
    Ask friends or family members to hold some cash for you.
  • Pack an escape bag. Include:
    * an extra set of keys
    * IDs including driver's licence, Medicare and Centrelink info
    ​* Court orders
    * car rego info
    * mortgage or rental documentation
    * birth certificates
    * passports
    * credit cards
    * banking information
    * marriage certificate
    * divorce certificate
  • * shoes and clothes for yourself and your children
    * medications and prescriptions
    * glasses and prescriptions
    * cash 
    * children's school reports
    * children's immunisation records
    * insurance information 
    * valued photos, jewellery and personal possessions 
  • Store your escape bag at a trusted friend's home but try to avoid using the home of your next-door neighbours, close family members and mutual friends as they will be the first people your perpetrator will probably approach.
  • Take important phone numbers of friends, relatives, doctors, schools, etc.  
  • Know your perpetrator's schedule and safe times to leave.
  • Be careful when reaching out for help via the internet or telephone.
    Erase your internet browsing history, websites visited for resources, emails sent to friends/family asking for help.
    If you called for help, dial another number immediately after in case your perpetrator hits redial.
  • Create a false trail: 
    Call motels, real estate agencies and schools in a city at least six hours away from where you plan to relocate.
EVERY DOLLAR MAKES A DIFFERENCE
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impact acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People as the First Peoples of Australia, the traditional owners of the lands and waters throughout Australia: lands and waters which have never been ceded.
​We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community and we pay our respects to their peoples, their cultures, their languages and to their elders past, present and emerging.

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View impact's Privacy Policy here

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​impact is very proud to call the following organisations our key partners:
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ABN: 17 159 728 753
PO BOX 217 GLEN HUNTLY 3163

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