Hello,
I have a dear friend in need of financial assistance to escape an abusive relationship. I need to keep her and her child's name and identity anonymous, for reasons I will state below. If you are aware of her name, please do not state it anywhere publicly in association to this fundraiser.
If you know anyone who has been in a DV situation, or you've been in one yourself, I know you can understand how delicate it is - the most dangerous time for a victim of abuse is when they try to leave.
My friend has endured financial abuse, emotional abuse, mental abuse, and some physical abuse at the hands of her partner. He has threatened to break my friend's work laptop, make her life hell, or take their child into his full custody/deny my friend access to their child if she tries to leave. He is logged in to all of my friend's emails for any accounts she has (including emails tied to banking apps - and he's logged in to her banking apps themselves, as well), he has downloaded backups of her phone's data onto his devices, he makes her turn on her phone's location at all times (otherwise he retaliates by showing up wherever she last was), he tracks her phone call logs, and reads all of her text messages. He often goes through her phone while she is sleeping. Essentially, anything she does on her phone or any kind of electronic communication using her actual email addresses or name/anything tied to her actual identity, can be accessed by him. Therefore, the need for anonymity. Essentially, my friend is being held hostage and has to play along until she can leave.
My friend is terrified of losing her child, and does not want to "rock the boat" in any way, for fear of that happening. She is overwhelmed due to trying to navigate a new job, trying to save for a car (the abuser totaled my friend's car "on accident" a few months ago), getting her child enrolled in ABA therapy, and also trying to find resources to leave without her abuser knowing about it. He refuses to work, so any and all finances are coming in from my friend only.
I believe that, if I can simply present my friend with enough money to cover all of her needs for a fresh start, she will be able to leave successfully. This money would cover a partial down payment on a car, paying ahead on rent, potential lawyer fees/protective orders, and partial cost of ABA therapy for her child. She is unsure how much ABA therapy will cost/how much insurance will cover.
I know I'm asking for a lot of trust here, as I cannot provide a name, or a photo, or anything related to my friend's identity. However, if you know me, you know that I'm a trustworthy person.
If you help my friend, I will update you on how she's doing. Once she and her child get out of their situation, and once it is safe for them, I will share more about their identity and more of their story.
