Wisconsin’s Safe at Home Program Marks Seventh Year Aiding Abuse Victims

PC: Fox 11 Online

APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A state program that helps keep victims of abuse safe is celebrating its seventh year.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul was in Appleton Thursday during a training session on the state’s Department of Justice Office of Crime Victim Services’ address confidentiality program, Safe at Home.

The program provides a legal substitute address to be used for both public and private purposes to victims of or those threated with domestic abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, stalking, and trafficking, or those who simply fear for their physical safety.

Enrollment in Safe at Home allows participants to use and receive mail at an assigned address in lieu of their actual address. Safe at Home then forwards mail from the assigned address to participants’ actual addresses free of charge.

There are currently 1,019 active households and 2,176 active participants enrolled in the Safe at Home program.

A person is eligible to participate in Safe at Home if they attest to ALL of the following:

• That they are a resident of Wisconsin.
• That at least one of the following applies:
  • They are a victim of an act or threat of abuse, a parent or guardian of a person who is a victim of an act or threat of abuse, or a resident of a household in which a victim of an act or threat of abuse also resides.
  • They fear for their physical safety or for the physical safety of their child or ward.
  • That they reside or will reside at a location in Wisconsin that is not known by the person who committed the abuse against, or who threatens, the applicant or their child or ward.
  • That they will not disclose their actual address to the person who committed the abuse against, or who threatens, the applicant or their child or ward.

Individuals who enroll in Safe at Home first must participate in safety planning with an application assistant.

Application assistants are trained victim service providers and advocates designated by Safe at Home to provide education about meaningful participation in the program and safety planning services.