WHAT CAN I DO? (When my life is in danger)

SAFETY PLANNING
Safety planning must be specific to each individual. Safety plans must be flexible. Plans must change as the circumstances merit alternation. Review your plan as often as possible in order to plan the safest way to leave your abuser.

Consider the following:

• Do you have a safe place for you and your children to stay?
  
• Have you talked to your children about a safe place to go when abuse occurs?
  
• Discuss the option of getting a separation/leaving the relationship as the best way to stay safe.
  
• Do you have a joint bank account with your abuser? If yes, consider getting your own bank account.
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  If you are not planning on leaving the relationship, pack a bag with the following items so you will be ready if you decide to leave:
• Money,
  
• Important documents for yourself and your children (passport, birth certificate , custody papers, car registration, driver’s license—if applicable),
  
• Keys to house,
  
• Medication,
  
• Clothes,
  
• Phone numbers (of doctor, family and friends a shelter or Crises Centre).
  

If you think your partner will become violent:

• Plan a way to escape from the house, i.e. go to a door if you sense your partner is getting angry.
  
• Plan a safe place to go.
  
• Stay away from places where there are weapons when your partner is getting angry.

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If you choose to leave home,

• Leave at a time when your partner is not at home and is not expected home for several hours since abusers become more violent when they ‘lose control’ over the victim.
  
• Do not tell him you are leaving or where you are going.
  

After leaving,

• Your partner may still become violent if he sees you.
  
• Try to avoid places you used to visit often i.e. stores, church etc.
  
• Change your residence if possible.
  
• Ask co-workers, neighbors, relatives, and friends, to inform you if they see your ex-partner nearby.
  
• Consider informing the police if your ex-partner continues to harass you.
  
• Change the locks on your doors if you are living in the same house.

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Survival Tips For Battered Women

• Contact the nearest police station or the Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU). Insist on having your statement recorded and action taken by the Police. If this is difficult, report to WAJU
  
• Keep any evidence of physical abuse such as ripped clothes or photos of bruises and injuries.
  
• Call a Crises Centre or any other agency that works with survivors to find out about the laws and other resources available to you before you have to use them.
• Know where you can go for help and keep these numbers where you can find them easily.
  
• Tell someone you know and trust about what is happening to you so that if you need to get out of your home in a hurry, you will have someone you can turn to.
  
• If you are injured and the police station is quite a distance from where you are, go to a hospital, doctor or community health officer and tell them what happened to you.
  
• Support may also be available through a church, mosque, or the traditional ruler (e.g. the queenmother).

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Legal Implications in Ghana

• There is no specific law dealing with domestic or family violence in Ghana. Therefore legal issues surrounding a woman’s decision to leave her home may be handled under several different laws.
  
• The criminal behaviour of the batterer must be handled by the police according to the Assault or Causing Harm provisions of the Criminal code.
  
• Issues of custody, divorce etc. come under Civil Law provisions for which she may need the intervention of the Legal Aid Board, or hire an attorney.
  
• The abuser, if he is your spouse/the father of your children is still obliged to support the children even if you have left the matrimonial home. An application for Child Maintenance can be made on your behalf.
  
• If there is the fear that the children will be left under the care of the batterer, provisions under the Children’s Act on Care and Protection can be invoked by drawing the attention of the Social Welfare Officer/Probation Officer of the district. This officer can then apply to the District Tribunal for a Care and Protection order until a custody suit is instituted and the courts make a determination on who gets custody of the children.
  
• Legal issues under the civil law can be tackled after you have found a place of safety, which should be the priority consideration.