What we do
Seven ways we can help. You can use one and skip the rest. Nothing here requires you to stay in shelter, file a report, or decide anything today.
Serving:
Yankton, Bon Homme, Charles Mix, Clay and Union counties, and the southern halves of Hutchinson and Turner counties. If you’re just outside that line, call anyway — we’ll find you someone.
Emergency Shelter
A safe, confidential place to stay for anyone fleeing abuse — you and your kids.
Advocacy & Case Management
One trusted person in your corner, helping with housing, benefits, and whatever comes up.
Counseling & Support Groups
Talk it through one-on-one, or with people who understand — at your pace.
Occupational Therapy
Help getting back the ordinary things: sleep, meals, work, driving, being around people.
Legal Advocacy & Protection Orders
Help filing an order, someone to go to court with you, and a plan built around you.
Community Outreach
We bring services out to rural communities, so where you live is never a barrier.
Family Connections
Supervised visits and safe exchanges when a family needs a neutral, safe setting.
Emergency Shelter
Our shelter is open every hour of every day, all year. If you need somewhere to go, we're here.
Anyone facing abuse at home, sexual assault, stalking, or trafficking. Women, men, and children. You don’t need a police report. You don’t need to have left for good — people come, go home, and come back, and that’s normal here.
Your kids
Kids are welcome, and they come with you. If you’re not sure your situation fits, call and ask.
Your pets
Ask us. Nobody should stay in a dangerous house because of an animal, and there’s usually something we can work out.
Cost and how to start
Free. Call (605) 665-1448, any hour.
Your things
Bring what you can. Food, bedding, towels, and everyday basics are here already, so don’t stay somewhere unsafe to pack.
How long you can stay
Long enough to work out what’s next. We’ll talk about it together, and nobody gets put out with nowhere to go.
Security
The building has cameras and a security system. Staff are here 8:30 to 5. After that an advocate is on call, day or night, and answers the alarms.
Someone in your corner
While you’re here, an advocate works with you on whatever comes next — housing, benefits, court, school for your kids. You set the goals. We help you get there.
Where it is
Our shelter address is not public. Call and we’ll tell you where to go.
Advocacy & Case Management
One person in your corner
An advocate is one steady, trusted person who stays with your situation. They help with housing, benefits, safety planning, referrals, and whatever comes up along the way.
Case management means you set your own goals and take practical steps toward them — at your pace, not ours.
What that looks like
- Filling out and filing a protection order, and being with you at the hearing
- Applying for money the state can pay back to crime victims
- Talking through a hard night, any hour
- Emergency money when something can’t wait
- Being with you during a sexual assault exam
- Court — protection order, civil, or criminal
- Getting into housing, and getting household things and clothes
- Support group, and one-on-one time with an advocate
- Getting you to the right place when what you need isn’t us
Who it’s for
Anyone facing abuse who wants steady support — whether or not you’ve left, reported, or decided anything.
Cost and how to start
Free. Call (605) 665-1448 any time, or send a message during office hours. An advocate will take it from there.
Counseling & Support Groups
Somewhere to say it out loud
Counseling here is with someone trained in what abuse does to a person — so you don’t have to explain the basics first. We offer it directly, and we can connect you with licensed therapists nearby when that’s a better fit.
We meet you where you are. You don’t need a diagnosis, a referral, or a plan.
Support group
Every week, a group meets here for people who’ve lived through abuse, sexual assault, stalking, or trafficking. It’s an hour. It’s a room of people who don’t need it explained to them.
You can talk or you can sit there. Both are fine. What’s said in the room stays in the room.
Childcare is here during group, with someone we trust. A licensed counselor leads it, trained in working with people who’ve been through trauma.
Some people come once. Some come for a year. Some stop and come back.
Who it’s for
Anyone who wants to talk it through — one-on-one or with people who get it. You don’t have to have been in shelter, and you don’t have to have left.
Cost and how to start
Free. Call (605) 665-4811 and ask about counseling or group. We’ll tell you when the next group meets and help you find the right fit.
Occupational Therapy
Getting the ordinary things back
Abuse takes the ordinary things first — sleeping, eating, driving, paying a bill, going back to work. An occupational therapist helps you get them back, one at a time, starting with whichever one matters most to you.
What people work on
- Sleep — falling asleep, staying asleep, getting through the day after a bad night
- Everyday care — showering, getting dressed, eating, getting out the door
- Running a household — meals, money, appointments, getting the kids where they need to be
- Feeling steady — what to do when your body reacts before your brain does
- Work and school — going back, staying, or starting something new
- Being around people again — friends, family, your community
- Things you used to enjoy
Who it's for
Anyone we work with. You don’t need to be in shelter, and you don’t need to know what occupational therapy is.
Cost and how to start
Free. Call (605) 665-4811 and ask about occupational therapy. An advocate will connect you. Appointments are Thursdays and Fridays.
What a first meeting is like
Mostly we talk. You say what’s hard right now and what you want back. Then we pick one thing and figure out how to get there. It’s not a program you have to follow — it’s the two of you working on your list.
Legal Advocacy & Protection Orders
Protection orders and court
A protection order is an order from a judge. It’s sometimes called a restraining order. It’s used when someone has been abusing, stalking, harassing, or assaulting you.
South Dakota has two kinds — a domestic protection order and a stalking protection order. An advocate will help you work out which one fits.
Three things people get wrong
- You don’t need charges. This is civil court. No police report and no criminal case is required.
- No one has to have hit you. Abuse doesn’t have to be physical for you to apply.
- It’s free. There’s no fee to file.
Cost and how to start
Free. Call (605) 665-4811, Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 5, and we’ll set up a time. For the hospital, call (605) 665-1448 any hour.
What a judge can order
- That the person stop abusing or stalking you
- That they leave the house
- That they stay a set distance away from you, your kids, your home, and your work
- That they not contact you at all, by any means, including through someone else
What it does and doesn’t do
An order doesn’t guarantee the behaviour stops. It does give police something to act on. Some people file one and also make a safety plan. That’s a good idea either way.
The paperwork
The forms are long and confusing. That’s not you — they’re genuinely hard. Call us and come in, and an advocate will sit with you and fill them out with you.
Someone with you in court
The hospital, too
After a physical or sexual assault, an advocate can come to the hospital with you. They can:
- Explain the exam that collects evidence, and what the nurse will do — you may hear staff call it a SANE kit
- Sit with you while you wait to see a nurse or doctor
- Help you figure out where you’re going when you’re discharged
- Explain your rights, and what reporting would and wouldn’t involve
- Just be there, so you’re not alone
Community Outreach
We come to you
If you don’t live in Yankton, you get the same help. An advocate travels out to the surrounding counties, and we plan around the days we’ll be near you.
Just outside that line? Call anyway. We’ll either come or find you someone who can.
What you can do on a travel day
Anything an advocate does in Yankton — shelter, a protection order, safety planning, all of it.
Cost and how to start
Free. Call (605) 665-1448 any hour, and we’ll tell you when an advocate is next near you.
Where we go
- Yankton County
- Bon Homme County
- Charles Mix County
- Clay County
- Union County
- The southern half of Hutchinson County
- The southern half of Turner County
Family Connections
Supervised visits and safe exchanges
Supervised visitation. When a court or a family agreement calls for it, we provide a safe, neutral place for parent-and-child visits. Trained monitors are there the whole time. Sessions are documented and neutral — our staff doesn’t take sides.
Safe exchanges. Children move between parents in a structured, monitored setting, without the parents needing to meet. It lowers conflict and keeps kids out of the middle.
Who it’s for
Families who need a safe, neutral setting for visits or exchanges — often by court referral, where domestic violence, abuse, or safety concerns are present.
Fees
Fees are on a sliding scale based on income, and scholarships are available. No one is turned away for inability to pay.
Getting referred
Services are available by referral or self-referral. Courts, attorneys, and child welfare agencies refer families to us regularly.
Getting started
We’ll walk you through an intake to understand your situation and confirm the program fits. Both parties complete intake before services begin.
Call Family Connections at (605) 665-1204.