We cannot keep telling survivors to leave without helping build something for them to leave TO.

Where will they sleep tonight? How will they feed their children? Who will watch their children while they work? How will they afford transportation, a security deposit or a home of their own?

And when the immediate crisis ends, how will they heal from what they survived?

Strength alone doesn’t pay rent. And leaving doesn’t erase trauma.

We are asking the United States Congress to support HELP THEM STAY GONE—a federal commitment to survivor safety, economic independence, healing and prevention.

Our proposal has four connected priorities:

1. Help survivors escape safely.

Provide rapid, confidential financial assistance for emergency lodging, relocation, transportation, childcare, food, safe communication and other survivor-identified safety needs.

2. Help survivors rebuild independent lives.

Provide flexible assistance for housing, utilities, childcare, transportation, employment, education and recovery from financial abuse. Help survivors bridge the gap between getting out and being able to afford to stay safe.

3. Help survivors and their children heal.

Expand access to affordable trauma-informed mental healthcare, specialized treatment for children and ongoing therapy when clinically necessary. Include rural and telehealth options, along with practical help accessing care.

Healing should not be a privilege reserved for those who can afford it.

4. Work to prevent future abuse.

Invest in specialized, evidence-informed intervention programs for people who perpetrate domestic violence. These programs must address coercive control and abusive behavior, require accountability and undergo independent evaluation to determine whether they reduce repeated abuse.

Participation must never excuse abuse, replace legal accountability, pressure survivors into reconciliation or be treated as proof that someone is safe.

What we are asking Congress to fund

Commit $100 million annually for five years to expand the Department of Justice’s existing Financial Assistance for Victims initiative, dedicated to emergency escape assistance and economic recovery.

Reserve at least 85% of each financial-assistance grant for direct survivor assistance.

Establish separate, dedicated funding for survivor trauma treatment and perpetrator intervention, with amounts informed by needs assessments and program costs. These services must not take money away from the proposed financial-assistance commitment.

Require measurable nationwide access goals, confidential services and public reporting on assistance delivered, unmet needs and outcomes—without exposing survivors’ identities.

These are proposed funding and policy commitments, not benefits currently guaranteed to survivors.

Who this effort supports

Domestic violence can happen to anyone. This petition supports survivors of all genders while recognizing the financial barriers many women, children and primary caregivers face.

Access should extend across states, territories and Tribal communities, with particular attention to rural areas and communities with limited services.

Survivors should not have to report abuse to police, participate in prosecution, reconcile with an abuser or attend therapy as a universal condition of receiving help.

Getting out should not be the finish line.

We need a pathway that helps survivors find safety today, build independence tomorrow and access the care they need to heal.

Leaving should not require financial privilege. And surviving abuse should not mean facing poverty as the price of freedom.

Sign this petition to urge Congress to help survivors escape, rebuild and heal—and invest in accountable efforts to prevent future abuse.

HELP THEM STAY GONE.