Child Abuse In Iowa

Each state separately defines by law what constitutes child abuse; there is no federal law or standard that applies throughout the country. In Iowa, the Legislature has defined as "child abuse" several types of harm suffered as the result of the acts or omissions of someone who is responsible for the care of a child. This harm includes:

• A nonaccidental physical injury
• A mental injury to a child's intellectual or psychological capacity
• A sexual offense with or to a child, including involving a child in prostitution
• The failure to provide for adequate food, shelter, clothing or other care necessary for the child's health and welfare
• The presence of an illegal drug in a child's body as a direct and foreseeable consequence of someone's acts or omissions
• Manufacturing a dangerous substance in a child's presence.
• Cohabiting with a sex offender, who is not the caretaker’s spouse or child’s biological parent
• Committing bestiality in the presence of a child

In Iowa the Department of Human Services ("DHS") is responsible for responding to reports of possible abuse. Iowa DHS offices accepted 23,236 reports of suspected child abuse in 2008 and found that there was child abuse in 9,086 (34.2 percent) of the reports. All told, the number of children that DHS determined suffered abuse was 12,227. This means that 17.63 Iowa children per 1,000 were found to have been abused.

The number of children abused in 2008 was almost fourteen percent lower than in 2007 and declined to the lowest level since 2001. Below is a chart showing the trend in child abuse over the last decade:

Please note that PCA Iowa uses the “duplicate” abused children numbers from the Iowa DHS. These numbers count each time a particular child is abused. DHS also releases figures for “unique” abused children. These numbers count a child only once as abused, even if the child suffers abuse on multiple occasions. In 2008, there were 11,003 “unique” abused children.

The table below lists the different types of child abuse that DHS confirmed in 2008:

For more data on child abuse, visit this site’s Child Abuse Data page.

Reporting Abuse in Iowa

If you suspect child abuse, please call 1-800-362-2178.

If you would like more information on reporting abuse, click here.

For general comments and questions, please contact:

Prevent Child Abuse Iowa
505 Fifth Avenue, Suite 900
Des Moines, Iowa 50309
Phone: 515-244-2200
Toll Free: 800-237-1815
Fax: 515-280-7835
Email:

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