Kentucky’s Safe at Home program, which helps survivors of interpersonal violence or threats stay anonymous on public records, is now serving 50 people, Secretary of State Michael Adams’ office announced Monday.
The program, which went into effect in June, lets survivors of domestic violence hide their addresses when registering to vote without a protective order from a judge.
It also allows the state Capitol to be the address on public records and lets those moving from out of state easily join the program.
The Kentucky legislature made the Safe at Home program law in 2023. It’s meant to keep stalkers and abusers from accessing survivors’ locations and other identifying information that could put them at risk.
Kentucky has the second worst rate of domestic violence in the United States, according to World Population Review data. The commonwealth is also 11th in the country for femicides – killings of females because of their gender, the Lantern previously reported.
But with the new program, Adams said in a statement: “We are helping more survivors of abuse in the Commonwealth feel safe in their homes.”
(Reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.)
This article is republished under a Creative Commons license from Kentucky Lantern, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on Facebook and Twitter.
Sarah Ladd is a Louisville-based journalist and Kentuckian. She has covered everything from crime to higher education. In 2020, she started reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic and has covered health ever since.
