Personalized Safety Plan

Step 1:  Safety during a violent incident.  Women cannot always avoid violent incidents.  In order to increase safety, battered women may use a variety of strategies.

I can use some or all of the following strategies.

B. I can keep my purse and car keys ready and put them _________________ in order to leave quickly.

C. I can tell _________________________________ about the violence and request they call the police if they hear suspicious noises coming from my house.

I can also tell ________________________________ about the violence and request they call the police if they hear suspicious noises coming from my house.

D. I can teach my children how to use the telephone to contact police and the fire department.

E.  I will use ____________________________ as my code word with my children or my friends so they can call for help.

If I cannot go to the location above, then I can go to _________________________ or ______________________.

G.  I can also teach some of these strategies to some/all of my children.

I.  I will use my judgment and intuition.  If the situation is very serious I can give my partner what he/she wants to calm him/her down.  I have to protect myself until I/we are out of danger.

Step 2:  Safety when preparing to leave.  Battered women frequently leave the residence they share with the battering partner.  Leaving must be done with a careful plan in order to increase safety.  Batterers often strike back when they believe that a battered woman is leaving a relationship.

I can use some or all of the following safety strategies:

A.  I will leave some money and an extra set of keys with _____________________ so I can leave quickly. 

B.  I will keep copies of important documents or keys at ______________________________.

C.  I will open a savings account at ___________________________ to increase my independence.

D. Other things I can do to increase my independence include:

E. The domestic violence program's hotline number is _________________.  I can seek shelter by calling this hotline.

F.  I can keep change for phone calls on me at all times.  I understand that if I use my telephone credit card, the following month the phone bill will tell my batterer those numbers I called after I have left.  To keep my telephone communications confidential, I must either use coins or ask a friend if I can use their  phone calling card for a limited time when I first leave.  (Remember, toll free numbers do not show up on your phone bill.

G.  I will check with __________________ and ________________ to see who would be able to let me stay with them or lend me some money.

H.  I can leave extra clothes with _______________________________________.

I. I will sit down and review my safety plan every _______________ in order to plan the safest way to leave the residence.  _________________ (domestic violence advocate or friend)  has agreed to help me review this plan.

J.  I will rehearse my escape plan and, as appropriate, practice it with my children.

Step 3:  Safety in my own residence.  There are many things that a woman can do to increase her safety in her own residence.  It may be impossible to do everything at once, but safety measures can be added step by step.

Safety measures I can use include:

A.  I can change the locks on my doors and windows as soon as possible.

B.  I can replace wooden doors with steel/metal doors.

C.  I can install security systems including additional locks, window bars, poles to wedge against doors, and electric system, etc.

D.  I can purchase rope ladders to be used for escape from second floor windows.

E.  I can install smoke detectors and purchase fire extinguishers for each floor in my house/apartment.

F.  I can install an outside lighting system that lights up when a person approaches my residence.

G.  I will teach my children how to use the telephone to make a collect call to me and to ___________________ (friend/minister/other)  in the even that my partner takes the children.

H.  I can purchase a cell phone of my very own for use in an emergency. 

I.  I will tell people who take care of my children which people have permission to pick them up, and that my partner is not permitted to do so.  The people I will inform about pick up permission include:

Some of these safety measures may be impossible for you to do for financial reasons beyond your control.  Do what you can with what you have to make yourself as safe as possible.  Seeds of hope will work to help you find resources to help you pay for those safety measures you are unable to afford.

Step: 4 Safety with a protection order.  Some batterers obey protection orders, but on can never be sure which violent partner will obey and which will violate the protections order.  I recognized that I may need to ask police and the courts to enforce my protection order.

The following are some steps that I can take to help the enforcement of my protection order.

A.  I will keep my protection order here _________________________. (Always keep it on or near your person.  If you change purses, that's the first thing that should go in.)

B.  I will give my protection order to the police department in the community where I work, in those communities where I usually visit family or friends, and the community where I live.

C.  I can cal the local domestic violence project if I have a problem or question about my protection order.

D.  I will inform my employer, my minister, my closest friend and ________________ that I have a protection order in effect.

E.  If my partner destroys my protection order, I can get another copy from the courthouse by going to the City Clerk's office in the county where my protection order has been filed.

F.  If my partner violated the protection order, I can call the police and report a violation, contact my attorney (if I have one)  call my advocate, and/or advise the court of the violation.

G.  If the police do not help, I can contact my advocate or attorney and file a complaint with the chief of the police department.

H.  I can also file a private criminal complaint with the district justice  or district attorney in the jurisdiction where the violation occurred.  I can charge the batterer with a violation of the protection order and all the crimes that he commits in violating the order.  I can call the domestic violence advocate to help me with the process.

Step 5:  Safety on the job and in public.  Each battered woman must decide if and when she will tell others that her partner has battered her and that she may be at continued risk.  Friends, family, and co-workers can help to protect women.  Each woman should consider carefully which people to invite to help secure her safety.

I might do any of the following

A.  I can inform my boss, the security supervisor, and __________________ at work of my situation.

B.  I can ask _________________________ to help screen my telephone calls at work.

C.  When leaving work, I can _________________________________________________.

D.  When driving home, if problems occur, I can ___________________________________.

E.  If I can use public transit, I can _____________________________________________.

F.  I can use different grocery stores and shopping malls to conduct my business and shop at hours that are different than those when I was residing with the batterer.

G.  I can use a different bank and take care of my banking at hours different from those I used when I was residing with the batterer.

H. I can also ____________________________________________.