OK.....Now What??

Everybody wants battered women to 'make better choices', or to 'get out' or 'leave their abuser' and 'dont go back...'

I did that... okay, now what?

I know women who did everything right, called the police, got the protective order, left, moved, ceased contact, got a job, never went back; and 10 years later their child got kidnapped because nobody believed that her abuser would really plot, wait and pounce that many years later... okay, now what?

I'm blogging from a hotel room; weekly rates; on a computer borrowed from a friend. I'm not sure where I'll be next week; what I'll eat tomorrow, or if I have the strength to keep on... yeah, I left my abuser ...
okay, now what?

See when the abuser isn't convicted the battered woman is left without crime victim services.

When the abuser isn't at the front door or on top of the victim, the shelter isn't available - and when it is, its only available for a brief 30 day stay...

When the abuser flees the state with your child, the victim falls through the cracks of the jurisdictional boundaries and the police that pass the buck instead of enforcing out of state protective orders - - now what?

When the abuser finally goes to prison for unrelated crimes, and the victim tries to prosecute, its impossible to get law enforcement to take the case seriously because they figure he's already in jail and it'd be a waste of time, so, now what?

When the abuser isn't expected to get out of prison until your children are over the age of 18, the state no longer seeks enforcement of the child support arrears he owes, so, now what?

When the abuser can't use his fists anymore and uses the system, it can revictimize the survivors and sometimes paralyze them emotionally when the children are used as pawns; already disabled from the beatings years before, now suffering eternal grief for the emotional beatings of the court system and flawed social services system; a victim is on an uphill battle to survive; and when she becomes homeless, penniless and hopeless ... she'll ask everyone who wanted her to get out... okay...now what?

Now what????