I did what they do in the movies. I did what I had only ever seen in the movies, took those two beautiful boys and moved to a refuge. Bags hidden at the neighbours’ house. Police on standby. And me, walking with two children and what would be our only future possessions, up the street to hail a cab. Only when I got moving would the address be released to me and I would truly be on my way to start a new life. Those bags, few toys and the children’s two bikes strapped to my back were heavy, but I felt a lightness as I weaved the pram through the tiny streets to get a cab.
But what I want you to know is this.
The courts won’t save you.
The police can’t save you.
The justice system is flawed, drawn out, and will rob you of courage, strength and the pennies you have left.
I fought for the children. I got them.
I fought for our home and lost.
The courts decided I was the fit parent, but that their father was too unfit to move out, so he kept the house.
Instead, a single mother, on unpaid leave from her job, in fear of her husband, was made homeless by the courts.
Source: Domestic violence: ‘Me and my husband had separate rooms.’