Tag Archives: Survivor Spotlight

Survivor Spotlight: Patience’s Story

Survivor Spotlight,

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Patience left her abusive partner after enduring years of emotional, physical and verbal abuse. The final straw came for Patience when her wife pushed her down the stairs, bruising her tailbone and breaking her ankle, in front of their son. Patience became acquainted with the Women’s Resource Center when a friend suggested she get help. The first meeting was held in a private office at the adult day care center where she works part-time as a CNA. Through the course of her work with WRC, Patience reclaimed her power as she filed for divorce from her spouse, secured new housing, and is in the process of filing for sole custody of their son.

The Law Enforcement and Court Advocates at WRC helped Patience navigate the process of securing a restraining order and filing for divorce from her abusive partner. Patience told her WRC advocate that she was looking forward to living her life without fearing her abuser will show up in public places, as there was a time where she was unable to even grocery shop or work due to this fear. Her child is also now in school and her job allows her to remain close to her son’s school. Mother and son also travel together on public transportation on a daily basis. Patience’s hard work and courage to seek help from the Women’s Resource Center literally saved her and her son’s life.

Survivor Spotlight: Clara’s Story

Survivor Spotlight,

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The Women’s Resource Center assisted Clara, a young woman who was seeking a divorce from her abuser. After being connected to RI Legal Aid through the Women’s Resource Center, she was able to obtain support in getting her divorce. For many years, Clara feared facing her abuser, whom she had been with since she was 11 years old, and was so nervous about seeing him in court, she often got sick beforehand.

With the help of the Women’s Resource Center’s Court Advocacy Program, Clara felt empowered enough to move forward with leaving her abuser in the dust once and for all. At the divorce proceedings, child support was established, along with reasonable visitation rights for Clara’s children. After the proceedings, she came in to the reassessment meeting with her Women’s Resource Center advocate feeling accomplished and relieved to have this part of her life settled.

Clara is proud to be working part-time as an office assistant at a doctors office, the first time she has worked in her life due to her abuser’s control over her. During the assessment, she requested a Good Cause Removal of the child support waiver and her case is now closed successfully, thanks to the guidance of the Women’s Resource Center’s advocates.

 

Survivor Spotlight: Ming’s Story

Survivor Spotlight,

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Ming has a tenacious heart in the face of adversity. When she came to the Women’s Resource Center, she was seeking help. After fleeing her physically and verbally abusive husband, Ming and her six children drove through the night after an altercation where her violent husband pulled a knife on her, and they ended up in Rhode Island. After arriving at the Women’s Resource Center, Ming was granted with a work waiver – she later requested it be lifted after two months to begin a CNA class.

All alone without support, Ming had no family or friends around to help her. But, because of her effervescent personality, Ming soon made friends with the neighbors, who were enchanted by her children, and offered to take care of them after school while Ming went to classes. She also used the help of neighbors’ transportation to do grocery shopping, make appointments and even go to church.

Once Ming finished CNA classes, she faced a new challenge: passing the state test, which she did successfully at first attempt. At the time of her last meeting with a Women’s Resource Center advocate, Ming reported that she is working, and her children are doing well, growing healthy, and excited to go back to school.

Survivor Spotlight: Sun’s Story

Survivor Spotlight,

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Sun, a survivor of domestic violence, has had a child support waiver for three or four years. While she was with her abuser, although he shot her and beat her, she received felony charges for her abuser’s actions. During a meeting with a Women’s Resource Center advocate, Sun described the growth, empowerment and self-esteem boost she experienced as a person after surviving the nightmare she lived through.

She explained that she is safer being away from her abuser and that the child support waiver has kept the peace, and the Women’s Resource Center gave her the tools she needed to get free. Sun’s not yet where she wishes to be in life but has a management position at her place of employment and is looking into ways of returning to school to complete her degree.

Survivor Spotlight: Tori’s Story

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After dealing with physical, emotional and verbal abuse for years from her partner, Tori drew the line when he began abusing their daughter. When her partner realized Tori would do anything to protect their daughter, the abuse escalated, becoming even worse than before.

That’s when she reached out to the Women’s Resource Center and secured a Child Support Waiver so she could move on.

After that life-changing phone call, Tori decided to piece together her broken life. She finally broke down, called a family member and told them about the abuse.  Luckily, Tori and her daughter were graciously accepted into the home of her family member, so she was able to flee her abusive household safely, with her daughter in tow.

It has been years since she’s been in contact with her abuser; the night she fled was the last night they spoke. Tori’s eternally grateful for the support the Women’s Resource Center has provided her family.

Although it took Tori years to not look over her shoulder every day, she now lives in peace and is completing her practicum for a certificate program in the medical field. Thankfully, her daughter is well-adjusted, doing well in school, sports, and socially.

Above all, Tori is mostly happy that she was able to find the courage to leave her abuser and provide her daughter with a better life. If it were not for the help of the Women’s Resource Center, Tori fears her abuser would have continued to inflict harm upon her and her daughter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Survivor Spotlight: Dunia’s Story

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Dunia thought she had it all – a family she loved, a warm and cozy house, and a doting husband. And, for the first years of her relationship with her husband, this was true. Then, something changed after they got married, and the abuse began. In the beginning, she said, it was mainly verbal arguments and emotional abuse, but soon, escalated to physical violence. When her husband pushed her against a wall and tried to choke her while she was in the third trimester of her first pregnancy, Dunia began to see how deep-rooted the violence was.

After 7 years of being kicked, punched, spit on, and verbally abused, Dunia had had enough, and she made one call that would change her life.

Dunia was first referred by the Rhode Island Department of Human Services to the Women’s Resource Center. There, she requested a Child Support Waiver to help support her children. The Advocate met Dunia when she was five months pregnant and visibly fearful of her abuser, despite having escaped. Due to her cultural beliefs,  she’d never told anyone in her family about what she was going through, especially her parents, and never dared to call the police.

Once Dunia reached out to an Advocate within the Women’s Resource Center and shared that she finally got the courage to call the police, she felt she was finally able to overcome her abuser. In light of her recent success, Dunia felt it was possible to let her parents in on the secret she had kept all these years. Once Dunia shared with her parents what had been going on, she realized that her parents would always support her unconditionally, as they asked that she and two children move to live with them.

By the time of the second reassessment, Dunia disclosed that she was feeling more empowered and independent, and stronger and with a better self-esteem. These feelings allowed her to go back to school, while still working full time. She acknowledged the tremendous support she was getting from her parents and the assistance from the Family Violence Option Advocacy Program (FVOAP) and expressed her gratitude. However strong she felt, Dunia was conscious that she was not yet ready to face her abuser, and asked for a continuation of the child support waiver.

When our Advocate met with her once again six months later, Dunia joyfully talked about her good grades at school, that her kids were doing great, and her parents were enjoying their time with their grandchildren while supporting her one hundred percent.

Dunia was ecstatic to be free her abuser for good when her husband eventually filed for divorce. She truly feels she is capable to live without him and provide for her children with a healthy and safe environment to grow up in.

Survivor Spotlight: Penelope’s Story

Survivor Spotlight, ,

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Penelope reached out to the Women’s Resource Center in an attempt to escape from her hostile husband in Connecticut. After years of enduring physical and emotional abuse, she was ready to leave the state to protect herself and her five children, and start a new life.

The Women’s Resource Center connected Penelope to the Family Violence Option Advocacy Program (FVOAP), and within her first assessment, Penelope’s family was already on their way to being relocated from Connecticut to Rhode Island. The FVOAP program helped Penelope and her family get on their feet once they were in the Ocean State. The program helped secure safe housing, connected Penelope with community resources like cash assistance at the Department of Human Services (DHS), helped enroll the children in school, referred the family to counseling services, and got Penelope registered in a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program so she could work to support her family.

Soon, the Women’s Resource Center set Penelope and her family in motion. Penelope was granted a work waiver that allowed her to attend counseling while locating safe housing and resources in the community, and her five children were enrolled in school and attended consistently, which ensured their safety and good grades. She then began attending CNA classes to further her education and create more career opportunities for herself. After a strong eight weeks of training, she took the Rhode Island State Test and later reported that she passed on the second attempt. She is currently employed as a CNA.

After a heartbreaking journey, we were able to help Penelope determine the next path that her life would take. In the last meeting with the FVOAP advocate, Penelope excitedly shared that she would soon be closing her cash assistance case at the DHS, and living independently.

Survivor Spotlight: Maura’s Story

WRC News

survivor_spotlight-JPEGMaura was in a long-term abusive relationship.

As time went on, dependency on her partner increased as she relied on him for housing, food, money, and more.  Soon, the control escalated, and Maura became a victim of domestic violence.

One day, after an explosive argument, Maura felt his hands tightening around her neck. That was the final straw; she decided then and there she no longer would put up with her boyfriend’s emotional and physical abuse.

Before her courage escaped her, Maura called the police, and her partner was arrested. With assistance from Women’s Resource Center’s court advocacy program and crisis counseling, Maura was able to also testify against her former spouse. This lead to a conviction, sending him behind bars. After this harrowing series of incidents, Maura was able to reunite with her adult children and grandchildren from whom she had been estranged.

To date, with the help of the Women’s Resource Center, Maura has successfully obtained employment and continues to receive counseling services from the Center. She is happy to put the past behind her.

 

Survivor Spotlight: Harriet’s Story

WRC News

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Harriet contacted the Women’s Resource Center in need of financial help. She needed help organizing her finances and making smart choices for her family. The staff at the Women’s Resource Center assisted her with getting started with the Allstate Financial Empowerment training. 

The Allstate Foundation’s Moving Ahead Through Financial Management curriculum is a comprehensive package of tools and information designed to empower victims of domestic violence and abuse to be self-sufficient with their finances. The curriculum includes the following components:

  • Strategies for addressing the complex financial and safety challenges of ending a relationship with an abusive partner.
  • Information on how to protect personal and financial safety in an abusive relationship and after leaving an abusive relationship.
  • Methods for dealing with the misuse of financial records.
  • Tools to help people of all incomes and earning power work toward long-term financial empowerment, including budgeting tools, step-by-step planners and more.

After Harriet had been working on the Allstate Financial Empowerment training for a few months, she was encouraged to set goals for herself.  Her first goal was to save money for Christmas.  With strength and guidance, Harriet proudly managed to save enough money to give her children a bountiful Christmas without any help.

During the holiday months, the Women’s Resource Center runs an “Adopt-a-Family” program that provides detailed “wish lists” to generous people who want to purchase Christmas gifts for our clients. We had over 50 families “adopted” this year.  A staff member approached Harriet to ask if she would like her family to be “adopted” for this past holiday season. With a big grin, she answered, “Let someone needier be chosen. For the first time, I got this.”

Survivor Spotlight: Renee’s Story

WRC News

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Renee called Family Violence Option Advocacy Program for assistance from a RI hospital. She was recently displaced from her home. Her husband had physically assaulted her while she was pregnant and the police were called. Because it was evident that he assaulted her from her hysteria and slap redness marks on her face and wrists, he was arrested. Renee was sent to the hospital. Again, she was 4 months pregnant and told the police this information. She had another child but he was at that child’s father home during the incident. Because the home was owned by the husband, she had to find a place to live. Also, a no contact order was issued to him and he was released hence an immediate safety issue.

The hospital kept Renee and worked closely to assist her with finding housing before releasing her. During that assistance, the WRC was called and the call transferred to a Family Violence Option Advocacy Program staff. After the story was told, Family Violence Option Advocacy Program got off the phone and started making calls searching safe housing. Since it was very cold weather, it was a time when all shelters were completely full. However, after many calls, Lucy’s Hearth in Newport broke their entrance protocol for this special situation and found room for Renee with the agreement that the other child was able to remain with his father until she found permanent housing because there was only room for one person . She was released from the hospital and was taken by a social worker from there to meet Middletown Police at her home where she gathered her things and cab money was given by the hospital representative for her to go to Lucy’s Hearth.

When Renee was settled, Family Violence Option Advocacy Program met with her to assist her with all the resources she would need to apply for from the State. An intake for the Family Violence Option Advocacy Program was done. Renee remains a client and is successfully set up with all appropriate assistance. She is on the waiting list for Lucy’s Hearth transitional housing program which should only take about a month for her to transfer. She will then take her son back and continue to work with Family Violence Option Advocacy Program, WRC staff including court advocates , DHS, and Lucy’s Hearth and many other resources such as the RI Victims Compensation Program, FCCP, therapy and above adequate prenatal care.

Thanks to the Women’s Resource Center, Renee and her children are their way to a new beginning defeating and breaking this cycle of Domestic Violence in her life.