Need some help with a domestic abuse situation Austin

Hello, I've only been in Texas about a year so I'm trying to gather some information. I'll try to keep it to the point:

My neighbor, a very nice woman, is in what I believe to be a domestic abuse situation, one that seems to be escalating in ways that could soon turn violent. There is a small child (age 6 or 7 can't remember) involved, her daughter, though she is not the child of the man she is married to.

In the past few days he has filed for divorce, and this is where I need some information on the laws to help my neighbor. This man has taken out wires from the air conditioning to make it as uncomfortable as possible, and disconnected the oven and refrigerator and removed all food from the house. (I will note here he is the owner of the house on paper, but they have been living together there, married, for some years). Since filing for the divorce he has packed up all of their things and informed them they need to get out of the house immediately.

In conversation, my neighbor friend has revealed to me that her husband is extremely verbally abusive, both to herself and her child. It's unclear as to whether it's progressed to physical abuse yet, but it is obvious that she is very clearly afraid of him, keeps mentioning fear of his guns, reprisal, and punishment. She is telling us stories of finding her daughter huddling in a corner very scared after being left alone with him, and some very disturbing things, like forcing her to stand on fire ant hills, to 'learn to be brave'. If this is true, this in particular I'm 100% sure that is child abuse. I don't know what else is going on, as details are leaking out slowly.

The daughter is staying with us tonight (I also have a young daughter, and they are friends), and although we've offered for the mother to stay over here too, she has refused out of fear. I don't know much about situations like this, but I want to help my neighbor who is a very kind lady with a lovely daughter. I've suggested to her that the first thing she needs to do is lawyer up, but she doesn't have much money, so that is a worry for her. I'm currently trying to look up Texas websites on how to get her some help, i'm sure there are people out there who deal with this kind of situation.

Any information would be helpful. Thanks Austin

Submitted October 10, 2014 at 06:26AM by JakeLV426 http://ift.tt/1pXdqap Austin