Mom of 2 needed safe haven from domestic violence but wouldn’t abandon her dog, and the solution was hiding in plain sight

About 10 years ago, Hope Dawson Sessoms was stuck in a terrible situation. She wanted to leave her abusive partner and take her two kids and their dog, Coco, somewhere safe. But finding a place that would take all of them turned out to be harder than she thought.

According to People, she ended up moving to New York City by herself and slept in her car for three months. To pay for food and gas, she cleaned people’s houses. Her son and daughter stayed with a family member in a different state, along with Coco, their Chihuahua-Jack Russell terrier mix.

Eventually, she came across the People and Animals Living Safely program, which changed her and her family’s life just the way she wanted.

This program gave her family a real chance at starting over

Being apart from her kids was really hard on everyone. Dawson Sessoms taught her children their schoolwork over Skype, but it was not the same as being together. Things got so bad that her daughter finally called her up.

“My children had gotten to the point where my daughter called me and said, ‘I don’t care where we have to stay, I just need to be with you,'” Dawson Sessoms said. That call made her realize she had to find a way to bring everyone back together.

What she found next surprised her, and it is something most people in her situation do not even know about. When she started looking for help in New York City, she focused on finding somewhere for Coco to stay first.

“My initial search was to find some place for Coco, because I knew it would be a bit easier to find spaces for the human family members, but I needed to make sure she was okay,” the now 40-year-old explained.

That is when she came across the People and Animals Living Safely program, which is run by the Urban Resource Institute. This organization runs more domestic violence shelters than any other in the United States. While we also see some weird things on road that could cost you money.

The PALS program gave Dawson Sessoms and her kids their own small apartment. Dawson Sessoms got her own bed, and her kids had a bunkbed to share. Coco even got her own area.

Looking back, Dawson Sessoms says she has no idea what she would have done if this program did not exist. “While living out of my car and sleeping on couches and those types of things, I would accept for myself – just like the physical abuse and emotional abuse, I accepted for myself,” she explained.

“[But] I would have never accepted it for my children.” The connection between families and their pets matters more than many people realize, and for survivors trying to escape violence, leaving their dogs behind is simply not an option.

The Urban Resource Institute runs 24 different shelters around New York City. Out of those, 15 are specifically for people escaping domestic violence, and 11 of them allow pets. These pet-friendly shelters have outdoor areas where animals can play and get exercise. They take in all kinds of animals, not just dogs and cats.

Today, Dawson Sessoms lives in Brooklyn with her husband, and she is happy. Her two children have grown up and are now young adults.

Coco is still with the family and just turned 10 years old. Dawson Sessoms works as a social advocate, runs her own business, and has published poetry and designs. She talks openly about what happened to her because she wants other people to know this kind of help exists.