Packing to escape

Pack the stuff you need to hit the road, and stash as much as possible in safe place you can get to easily. Things to consider:

• Documents: Xerox as many as you can and stash them. Papers relating to medical history, immunization, schools, addresses, social security, marriages, divorce, taxes, mortgages, birth certificates, car titles, and leases, insurance, pay stubs, and of course the protective order if any. You can save a lot of trouble and order copies of these documents, if it's not safe to look around the house for the originals. And have them sent somewhere safe!
• Enough money to travel on (save a bit each month and stash it); withdrawal slips, credit cards in your own name, ATM cards, checkbooks, bank and credit card statements, payment books
• Identity documents, passports, green cards, work permits, welfare papers, rolodexes of names and addresses.
• Also property documents, retirement accounts, stocks, bonds, CDs, mortgage/investment documents, property taxes, deeds, wills.
• Alarm company information.
• Medicines, prescriptions, glasses, hearing aids, canes, wheelchairs, walkers, dentures
• Kids: favorite toys, clothes, blankets
• Abuse: documentation of past abuse to include police/medical documents and photos, restraining order, injunctions, custody
• Keys: home, car, office -- make extras!
• Clothes for you and the kids (who do you know who wears your size?)
• Driver’s license, registration, transit passes
• Phone and phone card
• Phone numbers: relatives, doctor, school, friends
• Identification: passports, green cards, work permits, welfare papers
• Account passwords – never keep them in the abuser’s home!
• If you have pets, you need a plan for them
• Valued pictures, jewelry, or personal possessions.
• Maps to get you to your destination.
• Handy non-perishable non-messy car food.

Next time you pack to go on a vacation, save the packing list – might come in handy.

You will want to pull some of this stuff out for an emergency bag – what you will grab if you are really, really in a hurry. This bag will contain money, extra keys, clothes, bank documents, birth certificates, copies of school/medical records, medicine, Social Security cards, credit cards, insurance papers, citizenship papers, important phone numbers, drivers license and registration, documentation of abuse. Find a safe place to stash this bag, where you can get it quickly – is the trunk of your car safe?