“Misinformation” about Domestic Violence, Child Abuse
Government policies and campaigns to combat domestic violence and child abuse are based on faulty information, a new report charges.
The report also claims that current government policies worsen child abuse. The report, Family Violence in America: The Truth about Domestic Violence and Child Abuse, is released by the American Coalition for Fathers and Children (ACFC, www.acfc.org) and authored by ACFC President Stephen Baskerville, PhD.
Among the highlights of the report:
- Child custody disputes are probably the main engine driving both fabricated accusations of domestic violence and actual violence.
- The main cause of child abuse is family dissolution, and family violence programs probably contribute to child abuse.
These findings challenge long-standing assumptions about family violence – and policies to combat it – promoted by government agencies and feminist groups.
Domestic violence programs have recently become the subject of sharp criticism. Studies from the Independent Women’s Forum and RADAR: Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting have already challenged the accuracy of information behind current policies. A Rutgers Law Review article recently called domestic violence “an area of law mired in intellectual dishonesty and injustice” and a “due process fiasco,” identifying six major denials of due process in one statute.
The ACFC report goes further in suggesting that domestic violence allegations are driven primarily by child custody disputes and by suggesting that child abuse is made worse, rather than diminished, by current policies.
The report comes as Congress is considering appropriations for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the principal federal legislation that funds domestic violence programs nationwide. The report is critical of VAWA.
The report’s findings also contrast with two recently published studies on family violence: “Child Maltreatment 2004,” issued by the Department of Health and Human Services , and Renee McDonald, et al., “Estimating the Number of Children Living in Partner-Violent Families,” Journal of Family Psychology, March 2006.
Family Violence in America: The Truth about Domestic Violence and Child Abuse may be read and downloaded at www.acfc.org.
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May 18th, 2006 at 9:32 am
[...] “Misinformation” about Domestic Violence, Child Abuse [...]
May 20th, 2006 at 2:52 am
Its not just coincidence that reinstating Constituional rights would prevent child abuse, its part of why they were created in the first place. Our founding fathers may not have envisioned the anti-father feminist police state we have devolved into, but that would not have been possible had we stayed the course of fundamental liberty.
There was a time when we condemned single mothers for subjecting children to the poverty, abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse that goes with fatherlessness. Now, we give them financial incentives and victim status to do this to children, then pretend the father is to blame for being “absent”, and just omit the fact that it was these incentives and her “choice” that made him “absent” in the first place. Either we turn our backs on abused children and pat ourselves on the back for being politically correct, or we make reforms as this insightful report suggests.
The only part of “Family Violence in America: The Truth about Domestic Violence and Child Abuse” that I disagree with is the presumption that the policymakers are unaware of the harm they are doing to children. I think its more of a situation where they wear blinders and will continue to do this to children as long as they can get away with it. After all, children have no money to contribute through special interest groups, they can’t vote, and they are too young to understand. Meanwhile, the fat cats get fatter as they pander to the special interest groups who put money (Bar Associations) and politics (feminists) above the safety, health, and well-being of children.