Things you can use right now
You don't have to be enrolled in anything to use this page.
If you're in danger right now
Call 911. If you can't speak, you can usually dial 911 and stay on the line. Most dispatch centers will send help to a silent open line. Texting 911 works in much of Pennsylvania but not everywhere, and if it doesn't go through you'll normally get an automatic reply telling you so.
National hotlines
If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
National Domestic Violence Hotline (opens in a new tab)
24/7, free, confidential. Call, text START to 88788, or chat online.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (opens in a new tab)
24/7 support for emotional distress or thoughts of suicide.
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline (opens in a new tab)
24/7, free, confidential support for survivors of sexual violence.
Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline (opens in a new tab)
24/7 support and referrals concerning the safety of a child.
Covering your tracks online
The most common way an abuser finds something out isn't spyware. It's a browser history nobody cleared.
Use a device they can't reach
A library computer, a work computer, or a trusted friend's phone is safer than anything you clear afterward. Clearing your history can look suspicious on its own if your history is never normally empty.
Private windows aren't private from the device
Incognito stops the history being saved. It doesn't hide anything from monitoring software already installed, from your employer, or from whoever owns the family plan.
Check what's sharing your location
Family location sharing, shared cloud accounts, car apps, fitness apps, and tracking tags slipped into a bag or a car. A shared phone plan can show every number you've called.
Change passwords from a safe device
Changing a password on a monitored device can hand over the new one. Change the recovery email and phone number too, not just the password.
Assume shared accounts get read
Email, cloud photo libraries, calendars, streaming profiles, and password managers someone else set up. Photo libraries are the sneaky one, since they sync location data automatically.
Quick exit on this site
The button in the corner of every page, and pressing Escape three times, both leave here immediately and load a weather page instead. It can't erase the visit from your history.
What a safety plan actually contains
A plan isn't a document about leaving. It's a set of decisions you make in advance, while you can still think straight.
- A bag, somewhere elseID, medication, a spare set of keys, cash, and a charger. Keep it with someone whose address nobody would connect to you.
- Copies of documentsBirth certificates, Social Security cards, immigration papers, custody and protective orders, lease, insurance. Photograph them and store them in an account nobody else can get into.
- A code wordOne phrase, agreed with two or three people, that means call for help now and don't ask me questions.
- Two ways out of every roomWhich door, which window, which neighbor. Practice it with your kids as a game, not a warning.
- Where you goA first destination and a backup. Not the relative he'd guess first.
- What your kids knowHow to call 911, your full address out loud, and that hiding is their only job. Not stepping in.
Track 4 builds this with you in person, in detail, for your actual situation. You leave with the only copy.
About this page
This is general safety information, not legal, medical, or clinical advice, and it can't account for your situation. The people best placed to help you plan are the advocates on the hotlines above. That help is free and they do it every day.