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Mother’s day: A Family Celebrates Their Healing

After years of brutal abuse, Alma vowed to protect her children because they had witnessed their father’s savagery toward her and were traumatized by what they had seen.  After her husband threatened her with a knife, Alma fled with her 2 young children and lived in a motel for weeks.  Her husband was arrested after threatening Alma again, and a child welfare case was opened against him. Alma and the children received restraining orders.  Only then, she felt unafraid to obtain extensive surgical and medical treatment for the physical abuse she endured.

But, Alma’s husband would not leave them alone and made their lives miserable even when he visited the children at a court ordered neutral place. He stalked them, menaced and threatened Alma on the phone, tried to terminate her health insurance and offered bribes to the children for information about her.  Her husband refused to give her money for food, and Alma could not work because of the debilitating effects of her past abuse. Terrorized, but motivated, Alma she found the Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law.

The Center created the protective barrier that she and the children needed.  With the help of several pro bono attorneys and staff lawyers, Alma finalized her divorce, got full exclusive custody of her children, health insurance, family support and secured her rights to the family home and her interest in her husband’s retirement benefits. She also obtained a 5-year restraining order. Alma took the Center’s advice and sought intensive counseling for herself and her children.  Although their scars from the abuse have not fully healed, Alma and her family are coming out of the darkness and celebrating Mother’s Day together.