The following steps represent a plan for increasing your personal safety and preparing in advance for the possibility of further violence. Although you do not have control over your partner’s violence, you do have a choice about how to respond to him/her and how to best get yourself and your children to safety.   Practice how to get out safely: doors, windows and stairwells. Keep your purse/keys ready and in a place you can easily get to them. Leave an extra set of keys with a friend or family member in case you have to leave immediately. Have a friend or neighbor call the police if they hear any suspicious noises coming from the home and have a code word that you can use with your neighbors/friends that will signal to them to call the police. Know two or three places you can go if you have to leave quickly. Keep copies of important documents somewhere you can get to them quickly or make copies to leave with a family member or friend. (A list of important documents can be found below.) Have a secret checking account, savings account or stash of money that is quickly accessible. Keep change with you at all times so you can use a payphone if needed. Follow your intuition. If a situation does not feel safe, then leave. Know your area’s domestic hotline number. For Montgomery County call (936) 441-7273.     Important documents you will need after leaving your batterer:               Identification for yourself             Checkbook/ATM Card             Birth Certificate                          Credit Cards             Children’s Birth Certificate           Keys             Social Security cards                 Medications             School/Vaccination records        Insurance papers             Driver’s License/Registration       Welfare identification             Work Permits                            Marriage/Divorce Certificates             Green Card                                Address Book             Money                                      Pictures             Jewelry                                     Small objects to sell or pawn     The Montgomery County Women's Center was incorporated as the Montgomery County Rape Crisis Coalition. As the goals of the agency expanded, the name was changed to the Montgomery County Women’s Center in 1986. MCWC has served victims of family violence, sexual assault or abuse and stalking from all areas ofMontgomery County and northern Harris County since 1982. There are four primary program areas in which MCWC provides services at no cost to residents, namely: residential programs including emergency shelter and transitional housing; community educational outreach; legal services; and a sexual assault and counseling program.   The emergency shelter for battered women and children has operated for more than 20 years providing a safe, emergency refuge for abused women and children. MCWC’s goal has been to provide safe, emergency shelter to more than 800 battered women and their children every year who have been rendered homeless due to family violence or sexual assault. Shelter has the capacity to house up to 60 women and children per night.   Currently, shelter services are available for a maximum of 60 days, with an additional two-week extension if there is an expectation of permanent or transitional housing. Services in this project include food, personal care needs, clothing, prescriptions, counseling and case management. Upon exiting the shelter, families receive assistance with start-up household goods from the agency’s resale shop at no cost to them.   In addition, the agency offered clients: a 24-hour hotline, non residential counseling in five off-site locations, support groups, legal services, educational scholarships, advocacy, re-housing assistance and counseling, and community and school-based education programs.   The most recent component to the agency’s core services is that of transitional housing, offering a 24-unit, apartment-style facility called, Reaching Pines which was completed in November of 2009.   MCWC operates in all respects with consideration to diversity, including, gender, age, race, religion, national origin, cultural background, disability, or sexual orientation