The Kansas City Star: Newhouse is here to help
News & Media
As Kansas City domestic violence deaths rise, help is available: ‘We’re here.’
Story by Laura Bauer, 7/23/2025
On average, the hotline at Newhouse, one of Kansas City’s domestic violence shelters, rings 43 times a day.
Many of those callers are looking for the same thing: a safe bed. And during a year where local authorities are dealing with a significant rise in domestic violence homicides and an increase in the severity of abuse reported, these beds are even more critical.
“We clean it, turn the room over, you know, wash all the bedding, get the room reset and bring another family or person in immediately.”
The same calls are coming in at other shelters in the KC area – from Rose Brooks Center and Mattie Rhodes on the Missouri side to Safehome and Friends of Yates on the Kansas side. And similar needs are being met as the Kansas City community deals with severe cases of violence in families and relationships.
In all of 2024, 12 homicides in Kansas City involved domestic violence. So far this year, with more than five months to go, there have been 16, according to police.
The fear among those who work with domestic violence is that 2025 eventually could top 2023, when 22 homicides in KC involved domestic violence. The year before, in 2022, there were only three homicides related to domestic violence, police information shows.
Other cities and counties in the metro, including Lenexa and Platte County, are also seeing devastating domestic violence deaths this year.
It’s why there’s an urgency to let individuals and families impacted by domestic violence know what help and resources are available and how they can access them. Domestic violence staff in shelters across state lines say they’re working to help as many individuals and families as they can.
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