Escaping domestic abuse - young woman with child

On 17th March 2020, Sarah (not her real name) had to flee a rapidly escalating abusive relationship. She'd first encountered her partner when she was living on the streets aged just 12 when he was 36 and by the age of 15 she was living with him.

Now 26, she endured over 10 years of grooming to the point she truly believed that his abusive behaviour was her fault when I met her.

Things began to escalate just over a year ago when Sarah started a small online business that was beginning to allow her, not only some freedom by having her own money, but connections to others he hadn't poisoned against her. Her family and closest friends were told she is nothing more than a junkie who doesn't care about her child. Neither of these things, like so much else he has said, are true.

Sarah knew she had no option but to leave that night earlier in March as her partner was escalating so rapidly it was putting both her and their small child in danger. She also feared that if she had tried to take her daughter with her that night, he would have killed her in front of the child.

She left with just two changes of clothes and has been able to see her child via Facetime just 3 times since, each one controlled and monitored by her abuser who continues to torment her through text, her family and by destroying her small business.

Ordinarily, this would be a much more straightforward issue to deal with but the pandemic is making it hard to do just about anything and he is using it as a way of keeping her from her child, offering her the option of Facetime (which he is now withholding) or returning to be locked in an isolation room with a bolt on the outside.

Through people's generosity on Twitter, we now have a number of offers for houses which will allow Sarah to instruct her solicitor to go to the court to obtain an order to remove the child.

These things, of course, all take money, and that is what I am asking for help with.

If you met Sarah, you'd love her. Despite what life has thrown at her since she was a young child, she remains a loving, caring, funny, creative light that has resisted being snubbed out by a string of abusive men since her childhood.

I know times are uncertain, but if you can spare anything to help it would be appreciated more than you will ever know. It will be lifesaving.

As I write this, she's lying in bed, crying and unsure how she can find the strength to move forward. She wants to see her daughter, who is not yet three, so badly that she suggested maybe she should just go back.

She won't and with your help she can maybe start to believe she doesn't have to.

Things this money will be used for:

Rent
Clothing
Solicitor's fees
Furniture
Food
Security while she re-establishes her small business.

Thank you.

Stay safe and well.

About me - My name is Lee Hurley and you can contact me on Twitter @HLeeHurley if you wish to find out more about me, why I'm doing this or to ask any questions. Sarah is a friend I met recently who I could see was in distress and just desperately needed someone to believe her. She has been staying with me since she left.