Safety planning and leaving a domestic and family violence situation

People using violence may use violence towards animals as a form of control and power over partners and family members during their relationship and after separation.

When someone is experiencing domestic or family violence, it’s important to help them stay connected with their pets whenever possible. Pets can provide comfort, safety and emotional support during tough times. Being forced to give up a beloved pet can add to the trauma for both the person and the animals. These services aim to keep people and their pets together as part of the healing process, while helping to also keep pets safe.

RSPCA NSW

Aims to offer practical solutions for pet owners leaving situations of domestic and family violence. The RSPCA safely houses and cares for their pets while they find safe refuge, until they can be safely reunited. This may include temporary foster accommodation or emergency pet boarding and other support services such as financial assistance for veterinary treatment or impound and transport fees.

• Phone: 02 9782 4408 – Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
• Phone: 02 9770 7555 – weekends and public holidays, 9:30am to 3pm
• Website: rspcansw.org.au

City of Sydney and Sutherland Shire councils

The domestic and family violence pets in need program provides temporary accommodation for companion animals while their owners seek safer accommodation. Referrals can be made by services providing domestic and family violence support for persons across the Sydney metropolitan area.

• Phone: 02 9246 7290 – Tuesday to Thursday, 8:30am to 2pm
• Phone: 02 9265 9861 – Friday, 8:30am to 2pm

You may need to take steps to reduce the risk of any future harassment or violence from the person using violence.

To help keep yourself safe, you can do the following:

• If you have an apprehended violence order, or AVO, keep it with you and give a copy to someone you trust for safe keeping.
• If your AVO is breached, inform police immediately.
• If an AVO is in place, inform your child’s school or day care so they know who is authorised to collect them.
• If you haven’t already done so, seek legal advice to be aware of your rights.
• Get support from a domestic violence worker or counsellor.
• Speak to your bank about your option to manage joint accounts, credit cards and debt, or to report any abusive messages in transactions.
• If you have a joint bank account, consider changing it.
• Consider changing your phone number.
• Organise for your mail to be redirected to a post office box. People who have experienced domestic or family violence are eligible for a free mail redirection or free post office box with Australia Post.
• Teach your children not to open the door without first checking who is there.
• Get guidance from police or support services about safety, including securing your home.
• Change your locks.
• Change your routines.
• Ask someone to go with you when you feel unsafe.
• Keep a record of any contact you have with the person using violence, including the time, date and place. eSafety and NSW Police have created the Empower You app, which can be used to record evidence that could be used in court.
• Contact Centrelink to change any joint correspondence you and the person using violence receive.
• Tell someone you trust at work about your situation and ask about national paid domestic and family violence leave.
• Keep all receipts for emergency expenses as you may be able to make a financial claim through Victims Services NSW. This includes relocation and accommodation costs and medical bills.

Here are some strategies for keeping safe when using technology and social media.

Trust your instincts – if you suspect the person using violence is harassing, stalking or monitoring you by using technology, it’s possible and likely.

Take screen shots of any evidence of online harassment from the person using violence. This will help support any reports you make of abuse or stalking.

Use safe devices

• Use a safe computer. This means a computer or device that the person using violence doesn’t have, or hasn’t had access to, such as computers at public libraries or community centres, or a friend’s device or phone.
• Clear your internet browsing history or use incognito or private browsing on your device. Depending on your device and the internet browser you use, research how to clear your history and use private browsing.
• Get a new mobile phone and ensure you’re not linked to the person using violence through shared data such as email addresses and phone numbers. Setting up a new account or email will help. Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone have specially trained domestic and family violence customer service staff you can talk to about this.
• Use your own mobile phone data instead of any shared wifi in case the network is being monitored.

Create new online accounts

• Create new email, messaging and social media accounts. Consider keeping any social media accounts private and use a different name to protect your identity.
• Consider proactively blocking the person using violence.
• Change passwords and PINs on a safe computer.
• Set up multifactor authentication to ensure you can login securely on your devices. Use new and complex passwords and passcodes.
• Consider end-to-end encrypted email and text messaging platforms for added security. These include Signal, Protonmail and WhatsApp to keep your communications private.
• Be careful when you communicate online by making sure you log out of websites.
• Search for yourself online to see if your personal details appear. Try a few different search engines to get the most accurate results.

Check your device settings

• Check your mobile phone settings and disable location services and lock the screen so it won’t automatically answer or make a call if it’s bumped. Check the software on your phone and other devices is up to date. This will patch any new security vulnerabilities.
• Regularly check your phone and devices to see if there’s any apps you don’t recognise and didn’t download.
• Spyware can look unsuspicious and can be hidden as apps that already exist on your device. Check for any duplicates.
• Turn off geolocations on your photos. Don’t post real time data of where you are on social media and only share photos when you’ve left a location. Read more about location tracking.

Doxing is when someone reveals private information about you online, such as your home address, phone number or financial information to harass and intimidate you. You can report doxing directly to social media platforms. If they don’t take the content down you can report it to eSafety.

Deep fakes are digitally altered photos, video or audio recordings that use artificial intelligence, or AI, to create realistic but fake representations of people saying or doing things they never did. These are mainly used to harass, humiliate and blackmail people. You can report deep fakes to the website they are found on. If they’re not removed you can use the eSafety image-based abuse report tool.

Image-based abuse, also known as revenge porn, is when someone films or takes photos without your knowledge or against your will and shares them online. It’s also if you agreed to record intimate acts on the condition it would be kept private, but it’s shared online without your consent. Revenge porn is used to humiliate, blackmail and harass people. You can report revenge porn to the website it is found on. If it’s not removed you can use the eSafety image-based abuse report tool.

For more information about staying safe online, see the eSafety online safety checklist and Tech Safety Resources.

The City of Sydney’s community centres and libraries are open to all residents, workers and visitors in the local area.

You can access computers in our libraries and community centres.