24/7 Statewide
Iowa Victim Service Call Center
A statewide starting point for domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, trafficking, and other violent-crime victim services.
Resources
Okay. What the hell do I do now?
Getting angry is easy. Knowing who to call, what to document, what to request, and where to report something is harder.
This page is for the useful shit.
Iowa contacts and practical help for domestic violence, child abuse, school complaints and bullying, LGBTQ+ youth, disability rights, Section 504 and special education, public records, victim advocacy, and civil legal assistance.
Domestic Violence & Victim Safety
You deserve somewhere safe to start.
Crisis support, advocacy, address confidentiality, protective orders, culturally specific services, and people who can help figure out what comes next.
State Victim Assistance
Iowa Attorney General — Victim Assistance Section
Crime-victim assistance, compensation programs, victim-service referrals, and information about rights and available programs.
Des Moines / Domestic Violence
Children & Families of Iowa
Domestic-violence support for survivors and their dependent children, including a 24/7 crisis line, safe emergency shelter, outreach advocacy, safety support, and help rebuilding after intimate-partner violence.
The University Avenue address is CFI's public office. Safe shelter locations are not listed here.
Polk County
Polk County Crisis & Advocacy Services
Free and confidential advocacy, crisis support, counseling, judicial and law-enforcement advocacy, and referrals for victims of crime.
Protect Your Address
Iowa Safe at Home
Iowa's address-confidentiality program for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, stalking, and assault. It can provide a substitute address, mail forwarding, and confidential voter registration.
Statewide Advocacy Network
Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Connects survivors with Iowa victim-service programs and provides domestic-violence advocacy and resources statewide.
Latina & Immigrant Survivors
L.U.N.A. — Latinas Unidas Por Un Nuevo Amanecer
Domestic-violence, sexual-assault, and trafficking advocacy, including safety planning, court advocacy, counseling, and bilingual crisis support.
African Immigrant & Refugee Survivors
Nisaa African Family Services
Culturally specific domestic-violence and sexual-assault advocacy for African immigrant and refugee communities.
Deaf / Hard of Hearing / DeafBlind
Thrive Together
Culturally specific advocacy, crisis support, safety services, and housing advocacy for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, DeafBlind, and people with hearing loss.
Protective Orders
Iowa Judicial Branch — Domestic Abuse Forms
Iowa court forms for seeking domestic-abuse protective orders and other self-represented court processes.
National 24/7 Backup
National Domestic Violence Hotline
Child Abuse & Child Safety
If you think a child is being hurt, report it.
24/7 Reporting
Iowa HHS Child Abuse Reporting
Report suspected child abuse or neglect. If a child is in imminent danger, call 911.
Abuse by School Personnel
Iowa HHS Student Abuse Investigations
Iowa HHS investigates qualifying allegations of physical abuse, sexual abuse, or prostitution of a student involving school employees, vendors, agents, or certain volunteers.
Central Iowa Child Advocacy
Blank Children's STAR Center
Child-abuse specialty services focused on safety, assessment, advocacy, and resilience for children and families.
Child Care Regulation
Iowa Child Care Complaint Hotline
For complaints that a child-care provider or business is not meeting Iowa regulations. Suspected abuse or neglect goes to the child-abuse hotline instead.
Schools, Bullying & Staff Misconduct
Know which door to kick on.
School problems have different complaint routes. These are the places to start when the ordinary phone-call-to-the-principal routine isn't cutting it.
General School Complaints
Iowa Department of Education
Iowa's general concern process covers escalation from staff and administrators through the superintendent, school board, and formal complaint or appeal routes.
LGBTQ+ Youth / Bullying Advocacy
Iowa Safe Schools
Statewide direct support for LGBTQ+ and allied youth, including bullying support, safety planning, counseling, school advocacy, referrals, and help understanding legal options. They also work with parents and educators.
Bullying & Harassment
Iowa Department of Education — Bullying
State guidance for documenting and reporting bullying and harassment and understanding Iowa school requirements.
Anonymous School Safety Reporting
Safe+Sound Iowa
Anonymous statewide school-safety reporting for threats, violence, weapons, or other serious safety concerns.
Licensed Educator Misconduct
Board of Educational Examiners — Ethics Complaints
Complaints involving alleged professional or ethical misconduct by licensed Iowa educators.
Complaints must be signed and supported by concrete evidence. The Board does not act on anonymous complaints.
Disability / ADA / 504 / Special Education
Different right. Different complaint route.
Disability discrimination, Section 504, ADA accessibility, and IDEA special-education disputes overlap — but they are not the same process.
Don't sit on this.
Some complaint systems have filing deadlines measured in months,
not years.
Section 504 / School Civil Rights
Iowa Department of Education — Civil Rights Compliance
IDEA / Special Education
Iowa DOE — Special Education Dispute Resolution
State complaints, mediation, and due-process options when a district, AEA, or other covered public agency may have violated IDEA or Iowa special-education rules.
Independent Disability Advocacy
Disability Rights Iowa
Free disability-rights advocacy and legal assistance, including education-related disability issues.
Parents & Families
ASK Resource Center
Free family support, information, advocacy, training, and mentoring around disability-related education and health issues.
Federal Education Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Education — Office for Civil Rights
Federal complaints involving disability discrimination and other civil-rights violations in federally funded education.
Iowa Civil Rights
Iowa Office of Civil Rights
State civil-rights complaints involving discrimination in education, employment, housing, public accommodations, and other covered areas.
Federal ADA
U.S. Department of Justice — ADA Information Line
Confidential information about ADA requirements and how the law applies to a situation, plus federal disability-rights complaint information.
ADA Technical Assistance
Great Plains ADA Center
Confidential ADA technical assistance for Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Useful when you need to understand what the ADA actually requires before deciding what to do.
Public Records & Accountability
Get the fucking documents.
Iowa Open Records / Open Meetings
Iowa Public Information Board
Help with Iowa Code Chapters 21 and 22, public-records requests, open meetings, and formal complaints against covered government bodies.
Problems With Government
Iowa Office of Ombudsman
Reviews complaints involving administrative actions of Iowa state and local government agencies.
Court Records
Iowa Judicial Branch — Public Records
Court-case records are generally obtained through the appropriate county clerk or public court-search tools. Administrative Judicial Branch records have a separate records-request process.
Legal Help
Sometimes you need an actual lawyer.
Free Civil Legal Assistance
Iowa Legal Aid
Free civil legal assistance for qualifying Iowans, including problems involving family safety, housing, disability, government benefits, and other civil legal issues.
Keep the Damn Receipts
Document it while you still remember it.
Write down:
Dates, times, places, names, witnesses, and exactly what happened.
Save:
Emails, texts, screenshots, letters, voicemails, reports, notices, and case numbers.
Confirm conversations:
After an important phone call or meeting, send a written follow-up summarizing what was said.
Keep originals:
Store clean copies somewhere you control. Don't rely on a social-media post to be your archive.
Contact information and procedures can change. Use the official links above to verify current instructions before filing something with a deadline. This page provides general resource information, not legal advice. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911.