Stories: Taxi Driver

Lia and her husband were recent immigrants. Lia
had a responsible position at a high-tech company, but her husband controlled her life very tightly. He

was a taxi driver, and he would drop her off at work, take her shopping and accompany her every place she went.

He did not allow Lia to talk to anyone in the community. He did not let her get a driver's license, so she couldn't drive anywhere. And he kept all of Lia's important papers--her birth certificate, her passport, her green card--in the glove compartment of his taxi so she could never get at them.

One day Lia called the crisis line from her office at work, the only place where she could safely use the phone. Because she had no other way to work with EDVP advocates, the crisis line became the focal point of her effort to get out. Advocates worked extensively with Lia's employer, who allowed her to use a private room and take time to talk on the phone.

Arrangements were made for housing at My Sister's Home shelter, but Lia was in a precarious position. Not only did she have no transportation, but her young son was at home being watched by her husband's aunt. Moreover, Lia was reluctant to have the police involved because she feared that her actions might cause her husband to lose his opportunity for a green card.

The crisis line advocates talked to the police. They explained Lia's fears about jeopardizing her husband's status. They also explained that Lia literally had no papers--no identification, no passport, nothing-- because everything was always kept in her husband's vehicle.

Copyright CORBIS After careful planning, Lia was ready to make her move. EDVP arranged for the police take her to court to get a protection order. They then took her home so she could pick up her son--nothing else--and go to the shelter. Just as Lia had feared, the in-laws called her husband, who rushed home.

On the way back from dropping Lia and her children safely at the shelter, one of the police officers stopped a car for speeding. By a strange coincidence, it was Lia's husband who had been rushing in his fury to get home. The officer recognized the husband's name, and knowing about her situation from EDVP, he was able to recover Lia's papers from the glove compartment of the taxi.

When Lia got to the shelter, it was the first face-to-face contact she had ever had with an EDVP representative. Up to then, her lifeline had simply been a caring voice on the other end of the phone.