Safety Planning

Safety Planning

Safety can be an ongoing concern for many people affected by violence. ‘Safety Planning’ is a strategy through which survivors empower themselves by considering their own situation and identifying resources and options to help. It can be helpful to talk with someone who can help identify resources.

For help developing a safety plan at any time, call Safelink at 877-785-2020 (statewide hotline for domestic violence), Transition House at 617-661-7203, or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or by online chat.

Each survivor’s situation is unique, so every safety plan is different. While no safety plan can control the actions of another person, there are things you can do to increase safety and minimize harm.

 

Immediate Safety Planning Tips

If you or someone you know needs assistance, we can help plan next steps and assess options. Call our hotline 24/7 at (617) 661-7203.

Some Things to Consider:

As a survivor, there are things you’re likely doing on a daily basis to minimize harm.  Here are some general suggestions you might find helpful.  

  • Tell someone you trust in advance, so you can reach out to them when you need help

  • Have a code word or other signal identified with your children, friends/family to alert them the situation is unsafe. Have an established plan for what you would like them to do when you give the signal.

  • Leave money, extra keys, important documents with someone you trust.  If unsafe to take them, consider making copies, screen shots, or scanning.

    • Items to consider: Drivers license, passport, state ID, Social security card, Work permit, Visa, Immigration related documents, Birth certificates (yours and your childrens’), School records, Medications, Immunization records, Bank records, Certificates of Marriage, Car Title, Money, Checkbook, ATM cards

  • Call 911 or a friend or neighbor; alert them if there are weapons in the home.

  • Inform someone at work about your situation.  You can ask for a schedule change, or other accommodations. You can expect confidentiality and to make these requests without retaliation. 

    • Note:  as a survivor of domestic violence, you have legal protections regarding your job. To learn more about your rights, click here

    • Notify your child’s daycare or school of any special agreements or restrictions, especially if you have a restraining order (MA209A).

What Can You Do During an Explosive Incident?

  • Call 911, and a friend or a neighbor, if possible. Inform them if there are weapons in the home.

  • Tell your children, grandchildren or neighbors so you can communicate to them that you need the police.

  • Trust your own judgment.

What Can You Do When Preparing To Leave?
Leaving can be the most dangerous time.

  • Have a safe place to stay.

  • Call a domestic violence victim service program.

  • Find out which services and shelters are available as options if you need them.

  • Find someone you trust.

  • Leave money, extra keys, copies of important documents and clothing with someone you trust in advance.

What Can You Take With You?
If these are unsafe for you to bring or take because the person abusing you will see that they are missing; make copies if possible.

  • My IDs: Driver’s license, Social Security card, work permit, green card, passport, or visa

  • My birth certificate

  • Documents for my children (birth certificates, immunization records, passports etc.)

  • Money, checkbooks, credit cards, ATM cards, mortgage payment book, car title

  • My documents: Divorce, custody papers and restraining order

  • My keys: house, car, office, friend’s

  • My medications, glasses, hearing aids, etc. and my children’s medications

  • Essential clothing and toys

We recommend to be very careful in putting items aside so your plan to leave is not jeopardized. Opening a post office box (for documents) or giving some items to a friend/neighbor may be a good preparation plan.

What Can You Do to Improve Safety in Your Home?

  • Consider a security service, window bars, better lighting, smoke detectors and fire extinguishers.

  • Develop a safety plan.

  • Have a code word or signal with your children or signal with friends/family that will let them know if you am am unsafe.

  • Change your phone number.

  • Screen your calls.

  • Talk to neighbors and landlord about your situation.

  • Find a lawyer you trust who can help you with divorce, custody, or restraining orders.

Long Term Safety Planning Tips

Whether you are hiding from the person harming you or communicating with them on a regular basis, take steps to protect yourself and your family. If you are planning to leave your partner, or hide from them, develop an immediate safety plan. If you have left the person harming you, use the tools below to begin working on a long-term plan to maintain your family’s safety.

Remember that Transition House advocates are here to help you with safety planning, long-term planning, and keeping your children safe. Call our hotline 24/7 at 617-661-7203 for individual help.

Where Can You Get Emotional Support?

  • A domestic violence crisis help-line, such as, Transition House, 24/7 at 617-661-7203.

  • A women’s or victims support group.

  • A trusted friend, family member, counselor, doctor or pastor.

How Can You Improve Your Safety at Work?

  • Tell somebody. Decide whom at work you can inform of your situation, especially if you have a restraining order. This may include office security, if available. You should request and expect confidentiality from those you tell.

  • Screen your calls or have someone screen and log them.

  • Make a safety plan entering and leaving your work place.

How Can You Improve My Children’s Safety?

  • Tell schools and childcare. You can discuss with them special provisions to protect yourself and your child/ren.

  • Exchange child/ren in a safe place. Some communities have specific locations just for this purpose.

You and your children deserve to be safe.

Protecting Your Online Privacy

If you think you may be in an abusive relationship, be careful using the internet to get information. A computer you share with your partner may not be safe. You can follow these guidelines to stay safe online, using email and over the phone.

Computer Privacy

  • If you are in danger, try to use a safe computer to which someone abusive does not have direct or remote access.

  • 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 the person abusing you 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, online messaging and text messaging 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 that this person 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 at a public library, a community technology center (CTC), a trusted friend’s house, or an Internet Café.

Source: National Network to End Domestic Violence

Email Privacy
The person harming you could have access to your email account if:

  • You share an email account.

  • You use Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, or a similar program to check your email. These programs allow anybody who has access to your computer to read your email.

  • Your computer is set up to save our email address and password.

  • You write your password down. If you absolutely must write down a new password the first time or two you use it, be sure you keep it in a very safe, hidden place—not a sticky note stuck to your computer or your desk! Once you’ve memorized it, shred it—don’t just toss it in the trash.

Source: National Network to End Domestic Violence

Cell Phone Privacy
If you use a cell phone, be aware there are numerous ways a person can use cell phone technology to overhear your calls or locate you.

  • Use a cell phone only if you do not have access to a regular phone, and make sure that you do not give any identifying details on a cell phone.

  • If the person harming you works for a phone company or law enforcement agency, use extreme caution, and discuss cell phone safety with a domestic violence advocate.

  • A cellular phone in “silent mode” or “auto answer” can serve as a tracking device. Some recent models of cell phones have GPS (Global Positioning System), which is a location-finding feature. You can check with your phone company to learn if your cell phone has this feature.

  • If you are fleeing from your partner, either turn off your cell phone or leave it behind.

  • Wireless carriers are required to complete 9-1-1 calls, even when a phone is not activated. Any phone that turns on and receives a signal is capable of making 9-1-1 calls. It is important to know that if the phone you’re using isn’t activated, i.e., there isn’t a phone number assigned to it, and you’re disconnected from the 9-1-1 dispatch center, you must call 9-1-1 back.

Source: National Network to End Domestic Violence