At the age of 61 I feel that I'm almost a grown-up. I'm the mother of 4 children and grandmother to 8 (with another on the way). I was in an abusive marriage for 14 years before I plucked up the courage to leave. My saviour was Women's Aid who, when I asked them 'what am I doing wrong' told me 'nothing, this is his problem not yours'. They didn't tell me to leave him, they just said that they would be there if I needed them and they were. There are lots of women like me. Nobody teaches you how to deal with abuse and everyone's story is different. Now my children are all grown and I'm proud of them and how I raised them, almost single-handed. My saviours were my friends and family and a whole lot of women who helped me to look after, inspire, educate and care for my children. I have been discriminated against by banks, councils, politicians, and society in general. I think I deserve a medal for bringing my children up by myself. I want to get the message across that single parents don't choose that life and they need to be given choices to deal with the circumstances they find themselves in. Please lobby to fund Women's Aid and organisations like that and stop the politicians from messing with Child Benefit - without it there were weeks when we would have had nothing to live on.