Victim Advocates

Victim Advocate Certification and Training Requirements

The Iowa Victim Advocate Certification Program establishes certification for individuals providing victim services in the State of Iowa. This designation provides victim/counselor privilege (confidentiality) only if the advocate works/volunteers for a crime victim center.

Victim Counselor Definition in Iowa Code

Victim Counselor is defined in Iowa Code 915.20A . A “Victim counselor means a person who is engaged in a crime victim center, is certified as a counselor by the crime victim center, and is under the control of a direct services supervisor of a crime victim center, whose primary purpose is the rendering of advice, counseling, and assistance to victims of crime.

Certification and Training Requirements

Twenty hours of training per Iowa Criminal Code 915.20A, is required as a minimum for any staff or volunteer who provides advice, counseling, and assistance to victims of crime. This training can be provided by the crime victim center with which the employee or volunteer is engaged or from one of the following entities:

Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence – for domestic abuse and sexual assault advocates.

Central Iowa Trauma Recovery Center - for survivors of homicide and other violent crimes advocates and general crimes advocates.

Crisis Intervention Service of Mason City - for survivors of homicide and other violent crimes advocates and general crimes advocates.

Confidentiality, Informed Consent and Safety

Grantees must protect the confidentiality and privacy of persons receiving services and ensure the safety and anonymity of victims and their families.

Confidentiality Policy - Grantees must have a confidentiality policy (see Chapter 5 for the requirements). This policy is to be shared with employees and people seeking services.

Informed Consent - Under no circumstances should any victim of crime be required to provide consent to release personally identifying information as a condition of eligibility for the services provided by the grantee or grantee.

Informed consent means giving a survivor information about who will be receiving the information, the expected purpose of the release and any potential dangers or negative outcomes of releasing information, if known.

Personally identifying information - The term personally identifying information or personal information means individually identifying information for or about an individual including information likely to disclose the location of a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, regardless of whether the information is encoded, encrypted, hashed, or otherwise protected, including:

• First and last name
• Home or other physical address
• Contact information (including a postal, e-mail or Internet protocol address, or telephone or facsimile number)
• Social security number
• Driver’s license number
• Passport number
• Student identification number; and
• Any other information including date of birth, racial or ethnic background, or religious affiliation that would serve to identify an individual.

Nondisclosure of Private or Confidential Information

These federal statues prohibit disclosure of personally identifying information:

VAWA 34 U.S.C. §12291(b)(2)), FVPSA 42 U.S.C. 10402(a)(2)(e), VOCA 28 CFR 94.1115

Grantees must keep all client information containing personally identifying information out of view from other clients, visitors, volunteers and others who are not authorized to view the information. Furthermore, client records not in use should be stored in a locked cabinet, drawer or similar storage item. If client files are stored electronically, agencies must ensure appropriate security measures are taken to protect client data such as firewalls, authorized user accounts, password protection, etc.

To ensure the safety of adult, youth, and child victims of family violence, domestic violence, or dating violence, and their families, grantees shall protect the confidentiality and privacy of such victims and their families. Grantees and subgrantees shall not (i) disclose any personally identifying information collected in connection with services requested, used or denied; or (ii) reveal personally identifying information without informed, written, reasonably time-limited consent by the person about whom information is sought, whether for this program or any other federal or state grant program. Consent shall be given by the victim, the minor and the minor's parent or guardian, or the individual's guardian. Consent may not be given by the abuser or suspected abuser of the minor or individual with a guardian, or the abuser or suspected abuser of the other parent of the minor.

If a minor or a person with a legally appointed guardian is permitted by law to receive services without the parent's or guardian's consent, the minor or person with a guardian may release information without additional consent.

You can learn more about confidentiality from the National Network to End Domestic Violence’s Safety Net Project.

A victim counselor as defined in 915.20A is not a mandatory reporter under Iowa Code Section 232.69. A victim counselor, however, may be a permissive reporter. A permissive reporter is defined in Iowa law (232.69(2)) as, “any other person who believes that a child has been abused.” A permissive reporter may make a report of child abuse to the Department of Human Services, County Attorney, or law enforcement agency. Decisions to report should be made in accordance with agency policy, with adherence to the “Release” provisions noted below.

Breach of Confidentiality

Grantees must notify their assigned grant coordinator or the grant administrator of any breaches of confidentiality. Grantees must have policies and procedures stating within 24 hours of a breach, they will email either the victim services section grant coordinator or the grant administrator of the breach and provide details of the breach, including what is being done to protect the victim. 

Information Sharing

Grantees may share non-personally identifying data in the aggregate, regarding services to their clients, and non-personally identifying demographic information for reporting, evaluation, or data collection requirements. Grantees must ensure shared documents do not include personally identifying information.