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She needed to keep the electricity on so the panic alarm would work. So she sold roses.

Episode Three is where survival gets practical — and sometimes almost comic. With Clive gone, Vanessa faces homelessness, empty meters, and a legal system that has a word for mothers who protect their children.

That word is implacably hostile.

This episode introduces the family court presumption of contact — the legal principle that would shape everything that followed — and the moment Vanessa first understood that leaving was only the beginning.

Four voices this episode:

The story of Valentine's roses, a sister, and the first taste of freedom.

The law on the presumption of contact and what implacably hostile actually meant.

Author's reflection on the moment she realised the court was not on her side.

The stage — the shock of discovering that the system has its own priorities.

She had survived the man. Now she had to survive the system.

#ImplacablyHostile #DomesticAbuse #FamilyCourt #ContactOrders #CoerciveControl #SurvivorStories #MothersRights #YouAreNotAlone #DomesticViolence #WomensPodcast #TrueCrime #HealingJourney #Podcast #NewPodcast

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#ImplacablyHostile #DomesticAbuse #WomensAid #SurvivorStories #DawnAustin #CoerciveControl #FamilyCourt #MothersRights #YouAreNotAlone #DomesticViolence #WomensPodcast #TrueCrime #HealingJourney #Podcast