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Domestic Violence Information

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Domestic Violence Safety Plan: Keeping Yourself and Your Children Safe

The following suggestions are provided to assist you in considering alternatives to keep yourself and your children safe. 

  • Try to be in a place that has an exit and not a bathroom, kitchen or room that might have weapons.
  • Know ways to leave your home safely such as doors, windows, elevators and stairwells.
  • Try to find a neighbor that you can tell about the violence. Ask them to call the police if they hear a disturbance coming from your home.
  • Develop a code to relay to children, family, friends, or neighbors when you need someone to call the police.
  • Think ahead about where you will go if you ever have to leave your home.
  • Always use your instincts and judgment in a dangerous situation.
  • Try to keep the abuser calm until you are able to reach a safe place.

Preparing to Leave

The following is information about what you can choose to do if you want to prepare to leave. 

  • Open a checking account or savings account in your own name.
  • IF IT IS SAFE FOR YOU TO DO SO – leave money, keys, copies of important documents, extra clothes, medicines, and phone numbers in a safe place or with someone that you trust. Do not do this if you think the abuser might find the belongings and retaliate against you.
  • Have your own Post Office Box.
  • Find a safe place for you and your children to go.
  • Contact a friend that you feel comfortable borrowing money from if you have to.
  • Keep the shelter phone number, change for making a call, or a phone card on you for emergency phone calls.
  • Arrange for family pets to be cared for in a safe place.

Always Remember that leaving your batterer is the most dangerous time for you and your children.

Obtaining a Protective Order

  • If you or your children have been threatened or assaulted, you can request a protective order from the County Attorney’s Office.
  • Always keep a copy of your protective order with you.
  • Call the police if your partner violates the protective order.
  • Inform family members, friends, and neighbors that you have a protective order in effect.
  • Think of alternative ways to keep safe if the police do not respond immediately.

If you stay in your own residence

  • Lock your windows and change the locks on your doors.
  • Teach your children a safety plan for when you are not with them.
  • Confirm with your school and daycare about who has permission to pick up your children
  • Never call the abuser from your home. They will know where you live and that you are at home currently. Never tell anyone that might tell the abuser where you are living.
  • Request an unlisted number from the telephone company.

At work or in public

  • Decide who at work you will trust to inform of your situation. Consider the office building security if possible. Provide this person with a picture of your batterer.
  • If possible, have someone at work screen your telephone calls.
  • Have someone escort you to and from your car or bus.
  • Use several different routes when coming and going from your home. It reduces the chance of someone learning your routine.

What to Take With You

The following suggestions are for items that you might want to take with you if it is safe to do so.

*Remember – ALL of these items CAN be replaced, YOU cannot be!*

Identification

  • Driver’s license
  • Birth certificate
  • Children’s birth certificates
  • Social security cards

Financial

  • Money
  • Credit cards in your name. Remember that credit cards can be traced.
  • Checking or savings account books

Legal papers

  • Protective Order
  • Marriage license
  • Lease, rental agreement, house deed
  • Car registration and insurance
  • Health and life insurance papers
  • Medical records for you and your children
  • School records
  • Work permits, green cards, visa
  • Passport
  • Divorce or custody papers

Other

  • Medications
  • House and car keys
  • Valuable jewelry
  • Address book
  • Pictures and sentimental items
  • Change of clothes for you and your children

Click here to apply for a Protective Order

Warning Signs and Red Flags

from The National Domestic Violence Hotline

  • Telling you that you can never do anything right
  • Showing jealousy of your friends and time spent away
  • Keeping you or discouraging you from seeing friends or family members
  • Embarrassing or shaming you with put-downs
  • Controlling every penny spent in the household
  • Taking your money or refusing to give you money for expenses
  • Looking at you or acting in ways that scare you
  • Controlling who you see, where you go, or what you do
  • Preventing you from making your own decisions
  • Telling you that you are a bad parent or threatening to harm or take away your children
  • Preventing you from working or attending school
  • Destroying your property or threatening to hurt or kill your pets
  • Intimidating you with guns, knives or other weapons
  • Pressuring you to have sex when you don’t want to or do things sexually you’re not comfortable with
  • Pressuring you to use drugs or alcohol

Signs of Child Abuse

from Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas

  • Unexplained injuries
  • Changes in emotional behavior
  • Returning to less mature/younger behaviors
  • Fear of going home
  • Changes in eating
  • Changes to sleep patterns
  • Changes in school performance or attendance
  • Lack of personal care in hygiene
  • Risk-taking behaviors
  • Inappropriate sexual behaviors

Community Resources

If you or someone you know is involved in an emotionally, physically or sexually abusive relationship, there is help available. You are not alone!

The following are resources for women, men and children whose lives have been affected by domestic violence in Brazos County.

Crisis Hotlines

Crisis Intervention, Shelter and Counseling

For Child Victims or Witnesses of Domestic Violence

Local Law Enforcement and Legal Assistance

If you are in immediate danger, please call 9-1-1.

College Station Police Department
Main Phone: 979-764-3600
Victims Assistance: 979-764-5004

Bryan Police Department
Main Phone: 979-209-5301
Victim’s Assistance: 979-209-5312

Texas A&M University Police Department
Main Phone: 979-845-2345

Brazos County Sheriff’s Department
Phone: 979-361-4100

Brazos County Constables
Precinct 1 – College Station – 979-695-0030
Precinct 2 – Bryan – 979-361-4477
Precinct 3 – College Station – 979-694-7900
Precinct 4 – Bryan – 979-361-4266
Constables can do “stand bys” for victims to protect them while they remove things from their home.

Brazos County Family Violence Unit
300 E. 26th St., Suite 105, Bryan, Texas (3rd Floor of the Brazos County Court House)
Phone: 979-361-4300
Offers legal counseling regarding protective orders; accompaniment through hospital, police and court procedures; Victim Compensation Act assistance; referral services; and social services advocacy.

Brazos County District Attorney’s Office
300 E. 26th St., Suite 310, Bryan, Texas
Phone: 979-361-4320
Handles prosecution of felony criminal cases

Lone Star Legal Aid
Bryan Branch Office
200 East 24th St., Suite A, Bryan, Texas 77803
Main Phone: 979-775-5050
Other Phone: 800-570-4773
Provides a full range of legal services to a significant number of low-income clients. Handles cases dealing with family law, welfare and income assistance, discrimination, employment, health care, consumer, housing, neighborhood problems, education, and miscellaneous issues.

VINE (Victim Information and Notification Everyday)
Phone: 877-894-8463
VINE is a service through which victims of crime can use the telephone or Internet to search for information regarding their offender’s custody status and register to receive telephone and email notification when their offender’s custody status changes.

Health

Brazos County Health Department
201 N. Texas Avenue, Bryan, Texas
Phone: 979-361-4440
Offers immunization clinics, Tuberculosis Skin Testing, and sexually transmitted infections testing.  Inspects food establishments and offers Foodhandlers classes.

Health for All Clinic
214 N. Main St., Bryan, Texas
(979)823-1466
Offers non-emergency medical care and mental health counseling for low-income families.

Bryan-College Station Community Health Center
3370 South Texas Avenue, Bryan, Texas
Phone: 979-595-1700
Offers primary and preventative health care to the medically underserved of the Brazos Valley. Serves men, women and children with or without insurance as well as those on Medicaid and Medicare.

College Station Medical Center
1604 Rock Prairie Road, College Station, Texas
Phone: 979-764-5100
Offers medical assistance and performs sexual assault examinations.

Scott & White Clinic
1600 University Drive, College Station, Texas
Phone: 979-691-3300
Offers medical assistance for students (excluding sexual assault exams). Scott & White Clinic acts as an Urgent Care Clinic for TAMU Student Health Services on weekends.

St. Joseph Regional Health Center
2801 Franciscan Drive, Bryan, Texas
Emergency Services Phone: 979-776-2470
Main Phone: 979-776-3777
Offers medical assistance and sexual assault examinations.

Student Health Services
A.P. Beutel Health Center
Phone: 979-458-8250
Hours are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 8 a.m. – 7 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday. Extended hours are for urgent care only.
Offers medical assistance for students (excluding sexual assault exams).

Food and Support Services

Call 211 Information and Referral for a list of food pantries throughout the county.

Women, Infants and Children
Phone: 979-260-2942
Offers food vouchers; nutrition education; support and assistance with breastfeeding; and referrals for women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or who have had a baby in the past six months. WIC services are also available for infants from birth to one year of age and children up to five years of age.

Housing

Twin City Mission Housing Services
2505 S. College Ave., Bryan, TX 77801, Bryan, Texas
Phone: (979) 822-1492
Assists with the transition of homeless individuals and families from emergency shelter (including domestic violence victims residing at Phoebe’s Home) to housing in residential neighborhoods, with the provision of tenant-based rental assistance, intensive case management and supportive services, for up to twenty-four months. Participants receive assistance in resolving the crises in their lives that prevent self-sufficiency; gaining access to needed community services designed to help participants achieve more stable and independent lives; and transitioning into permanent housing. Housing Services are available to homeless individuals and TCM clients who successfully complete the application process, who meet HUD income guidelines and are willing to participate in a self-sufficiency program.

Brazos Valley Council of Governments
3991 E. 29th Street, Bryan Texas
Housing Choice Voucher Programs
Phone: 979-595-2801
Allows very low-income families to choose and lease or purchase safe, decent and affordable privately-owned rental housing.

Additional Resources

Brazos County Judicial Records Search
Community members can search criminal and civil cases, records, etc. This would be a good resource to use when dating someone new and/or considering a relationship with someone.

Texas Council on Family Violence
P.O. Box 161810, Austin, TX 78716
Phone: 512-794-1133
Provides public education, training, technical assistance and public policy advocacy on the issue of domestic violence in Texas. Offers sample legal forms (protective order, utility deposit waivers, waiver of gas service) online.