Since 2016 the Iowa Secretary of State has offered a free address-confidentiality program called Safe at Home.
Safe at Home provides a legal, “secret” substitute address for current victims of and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking or stalking. Safe at Home can forward mail to an address known only to the person seeking help.
Participants in Safe at Home can register to vote and then vote absentee without revealing their current address or having to show up at the polling place where their abusers might see them.
Victims or survivors must complete application forms available online at the Safe at Home website. Staff members of Crisis Intervention and Advocacy in Adel are also able to help you apply and are available at 515-993-4095.
There is no enrollment fee and no other cost to Safe at Home participants. The program is funded through a $100 surcharge imposed on anyone convicted of domestic abuse and a $50 surcharge on violators of protective orders.
Safe at Home is not a witness-protection program, nor will it hide you from legal obligations, such as child support orders. Since real estate records are available to anyone who knows how to search them, Safe at Home works best for people renting their current home.
Ann Cochran is the health navigation coordinator in the Dallas County Public Health Department.
