What organizations are out there to help my mom move out of an abusive household?

Question

For the last 17 1/2 years my mom has been married to my stepdad. They are still married, but she wants to leave him. He is emotionally and mentally abusive to her, myself, and my sister. My sister and I are grown now and on our own but my mom is still in the abusive household. The problem with her leaving is that she cannot find an apartment in our area which allows pets, and giving them up is not an option. Also, she is working on being put on disability because of her health problems. Because of this, she is afraid she will not be able to pay rent on a long term basis because she does not know how much her disability will be or how long it will take her to get on it. Parents of one of my best friends has land that they are allowing my mom to put a mobile home on. Now we just have to get her a trailer, but she cannot afford the down payment of about $1500. My sister and I are college students and are unable to provide any monetary help, so we are looking for outside sources. What national charities or Mississippi state charities can I contact that can help raise the money so I can get my mom out of her abusive household? We are just looking for help for the down payment.

Answer 1

Most local communities have a domestic/spouse abuse hot line number - look it up on line or in the phone book.They will be able to help her put a safety plan into action.

If you can't find the number, call your local District Attorney's Office and they will be able to give you a referral.

You can also try your local  Department family services, or Office of Human Development - look these numbers up in the phone book!!

You can also try the local churches or United Way.

Answer 2

Listed in the phone book is Catholic Charities.  They have safe haven housing for abused women.  If you do not find a listing call a Catholic Church.  This organization helps women of any religion.

Answer 3

Dept. of Social Services.

Answer 4

I would start by contacting your local city or town social service offices.  Each state is different but these would be the same people who provide medicaid and food stamps.  If they cannot directly provide assistance they should have names of charities who can.

You could also try your local hospital.  Most hospitals have social workers, or case managers on site.  If your mom is disabled I am assuming she has a regular doctor she sees, or goes to a local emergency department for service.  As long as she has been a patient recently they should be able to provide assistance.  Even if she hasn't, it never hurts to try.

You could also try contacting her family physician, they may have some ideas on organizations to contact.

Each state is different. I live in North Carolina and we have a great local organization called Interact, who help people in domestic violence situations.  If all else fails, google Interact of Wake County.  Call their help hotline and I am pretty sure they have bnames of out of state agencies.

Good luck!

Answer 5

Contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline for info on local and national resources.   Their web site is http://www.ndvh.org.   I can not guarantee what they will do but I can tell you they are the best resource for domestic abuse and help to escape it anywhere in the country.

Answer 6

Here is an article but I am not sure that this is going to help or not.