surviving
Abused by her husband of 13 years, a 31-year-old woman with three children had had enough. She began looking for shelter, and contacted the Crisis Center of Russell County, whose programs receive funding from United Way.
The Crisis Center provided her and her three children with shelter, but her struggles were far from over.
Her oldest daughter, who was 13 years old at the time, decided she wanted to stay with her father. He went to court and received custody.
To add to the stress of her abusive husband gaining custody of her 13-year-old daughter, the mother found out that she was 12 weeks pregnant. While in shelter, she had a miscarriage. Despite the emotional distress of the miscarriage and losing custody of her daughter, she continued to stay focused with her goals and become self-sufficient. She was determined to start over on her own.
Her husband kept all important papers away from her, so the Crisis Center of Russell County helped her obtain birth certificates, social security cards and shot records so that her children could attend school. She obtained employment and the Crisis Center helped her with babysitting. The Crisis Center partnered with Open Door Community House, a United Way community partner, to help the mother find housing. Open Door helped her obtain an apartment with six months of free rent. She is now on her own and thriving and has joint custody of her teenaged daughter.
She keeps in contact with the Crisis Center just to share how she is doing, and is very grateful for the services of the Crisis Center.
