Iowa
Iowa Office to Combat Human Trafficking
855-614-4692Confidential. 24/7. Free. The Iowa-specific line. Connects callers with case workers and state-level resources.
Resources
Help, partners, and where our numbers come from.
Where to find help. Who Let My Children Go is partnering with. Where our numbers come from. If you need help right now, the phone numbers are listed below. Beneath those: the agencies LMCG is building working agreements with in Iowa; the research that grounds our public statements; and the sources we point to when people want to learn more.
If you need help right now:
These lines are open.
Confidential. 24 hours. Multilingual where indicated. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 911 first.
National
National Human Trafficking Hotline
1-888-373-7888Confidential. 24/7. Multilingual. Free. Or text HELP to 233733.
Emergency
If someone is in immediate danger
911Call first. The Iowa and national lines are for follow-up, counseling, and coordination. Emergency response comes through 911.
Working agreements
The agencies behind each part of the restoration journey.
Residential restoration is not a single organization's work. Children in LMCG's care will be served by a coordinated set of agencies, each with a defined role from intake through long-term care.
Status. LMCG currently has formal MOUs with the following. The MOUs define the specific services each agency provides and the expectations on both sides. The list reflects the partners LMCG is actively working with as of May 2026.
Law enforcement
Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office
Sheriff Nathan Neff
Local law-enforcement coordination during intake, ongoing resident safety, and investigative cooperation when cases require it.
bhcso.org225 East 6th Street
Waterloo, Iowa 50703
Child welfare
Iowa Department of Health and Human Services
State child-welfare oversight
Placement coordination, case management, and the regulatory oversight that residential care for children requires under Iowa state law.
hhs.iowa.gov1407 Independence Avenue #2
Waterloo, Iowa 50703
Clinical care
UnityPoint Mental Health Services
Black Hawk Grundy Mental Health Center
Trauma-informed clinical mental-health care, ongoing therapy, and psychiatric support for residents recovering from complex trauma.
unitypoint.org3251 W. 9th Street
Waterloo, Iowa 50702
Youth & community support
FOCUSS, Inc.
Darnell Loatman, CEO
An Iowa youth-focused nonprofit running mobile crisis units, mentorship programs, and community support services that complement the clinical and case-management work happening locally.
focussinc.org110 S.E. Grant Street, Suite 10
Ankeny, Iowa 50021
Where our numbers come from
Our statements have been sourced and validated.
LMCG does not publish a statistic it cannot source. The estimate at the center of our public statement, that 250 to 500 Iowa children are trafficked each year, is built from three published figures. Here is the derivation, and the conservative reasoning behind it.
Base count
Iowa Missing Person Information Clearinghouse
About 4,000 Iowa children are reported missing each year. The large majority are endangered runaways. This is the starting figure.
Factor
NCMEC 1-in-7
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children finds that roughly one in seven endangered runaways reported to them is likely a victim of sex trafficking.
Working estimate
250 to 500 Iowa children each year
Children trafficked or at serious risk, with new victims every year. This is the figure in LMCG's public communications, and it is deliberately conservative.
Why the estimate is conservative
National Institute of Justice
Official systems identify only an estimated 14 to 18 percent of trafficking victims. The real number of affected Iowa children is therefore almost certainly higher than the estimate above.
What the base count leaves out
The starting figure reflects only children formally reported missing. Children trafficked without ever being reported, including by a family member, are not captured in it.
If you want to understand the work
Sources we trust, and why we point you there.
These are the published sources behind LMCG's voice, our visual rules, and our refusal to publish unsourced statistics. Each one earned its place.
Academic journal
Anti-Trafficking Review
Peer-reviewed research on trafficking representation, survivor-centered communications, and the harms of rescue-narrative imagery. The reason LMCG never uses chains, padlocks, silhouettes, or AI-generated child imagery.
Federal policy
U.S. State Department, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP)
The annual TIP Report and the office's trauma-informed communications guidance for nonprofits. The federal standard for talking about this work without doing harm.
State
Iowa Office to Combat Human Trafficking
The state-level resource hub. Public reports, training materials, and the hotline at the top of this page. LMCG's primary state-level reference.
National
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)
Annual reports, the CyberTipline, and the body of research behind the 1-in-7 endangered-runaway statistic. The clearinghouse for the data side of this work.
National
Polaris Project
National data, hotline operation, and survivor-led research. The team behind the National Human Trafficking Hotline listed at the top of this page.
Federal research
National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
Department of Justice research office. The source for our finding that official systems identify only an estimated 14 to 18 percent of trafficking victims.
For media, churches, and nonprofits
Specific channels for specific asks.
If you represent an organization that wants to engage with LMCG's work, here is where to start.
Press & media
Interviews, quotes, or coverage of LMCG's work. Mike is the spokesperson; all press requests go through the contact form so they can be coordinated.
Send a press inquiry
Churches & faith partners
If your congregation wants to partner with the restoration work, host an event, or learn how to engage well, write to us about your context and what you're imagining.
Tell us about your churchThe work of restoration is slow, patient, and faithful. The lines, partners, and sources on this page are how we stay accountable to it.
Let My Children Go