Help more domestic-violence victims

Surely no one seeking safe haven from domestic violence should be turned away for lack of space – not in a community as caring as Wichita.

Yet the city has far more victims of domestic violence than places to shelter them. Fortunately, it also has religious and nonprofit organizations that are determined to meet the emergency and longer-term needs created by this frightening trend.

Recent Eagle articles have quantified the crisis: Six abusive relationships have ended in murder so far this year, compared with three for all of 2014 and one in 2013. Catholic Charities’ 40-room Harbor House has had to turn away more than 100 requests for shelter a month, including 178 in August and 140 in July. The YWCA Wichita Women’s Crisis Center’s 22-bed shelter turned away 680 women and children last year, up from 550 the year before, and even puts up some victims in hotels to ensure their safety.

As the YWCA seeks ways to increase its ability to help more victims, a new 14-room shelter plans to begin accepting referrals from Harbor House and St. Anthony Family Shelter next week, with another 24 rooms slated to be available over the coming months and 20 more in 2018. The Mount at Catholic Charities, as the facility at the historic Sisters of St. Joseph convent is called, eventually will accept referrals from other agencies, and be able to accommodate some homeless men.

Meant to provide supportive “bridge housing” for families and single and pregnant women who are not in crisis, the Mount is a “huge step” toward building up local shelter space, as Catholic Charities executive director Michael Burrus put it.

Of course, the answer to the problem of domestic violence starts with preventing relationships from turning dangerously abusive. During this Domestic Violence Awareness Month and year-round, Catholic Charities, the YWCA and the Wichita/Sedgwick County Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalition are among the forces for change on this complicated societal issue that intersects with child abuse and sexual exploitation, human trafficking and other crimes.

More donations and steady support will be required to sustain the broad response to the tragedy of domestic violence, but the opening of the Mount and other efforts to increase the system’s capacity are a community blessing sure to pay off in peace of mind and stronger, more stable families.

For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

This story was originally published October 14, 2015 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Help more domestic-violence victims."