Winner Of The Letter Making An Excellent Point to the RGJ Editor Is

Posted by Myrna the Minx on July 18, 2006 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Donald Anderson of Reno who writes:

For nearly 20 years I have fought nearly single-handedly to maintain a crisis hot line for men facing the trauma of family separation. I have talked to thousands of men decompressing their frustration with the Family Court and lack of sensitivity to their plight. Lack of adequate funding has held back many wonderful programs. But now it is time for action to protect both sides of the partnering equation. This can be accomplished with three parallel actions.

First, there needs to be a multidisciplinary board to give the agency direction. Second, there is an immediate need to take action to implement equal funding for men, especially fathers. Finally, there is great need for community awareness that men have an alternative to family violence.

More funding is needed for support services that provide men, women, and children with the counseling and support needed to survive family trauma. And it is extremely important to increase community awareness regarding alternatives to the violence. I have spent a bit of time posting about father’s rights groups which give fathers everywhere a bad name. Their motives are self-serving and often despicable. But the support for men Mr. Anderson advocates for is a crucial step in the campaign to end family violence. Anti-violence prevention programs like the Family Violence Prevention Fund are working to change our culture and end family violence and should be supported as should city and county resources for families like those Mr. Anderson calls for.