The family is the bedrock of civil society. Families are the cornerstone of an orderly, prosperous, and free society. Families provide
the environment in which children are nurtured and protected. Especially in low-income communities, families constitute an essential social welfare net for its members.

Over the last 30 years, the American family has grown progressively weaker. Now, persons are far less likely to wed. From 1970 to 2002, the annual number of marriages dropped by 40%. When persons do marry, their risk of divorce is almost 50%.

While VAWA has not been the only cause of this decline, it has contributed to it:

  1. Domestic violence educational programs typically portray the male as the ominous perpetrator, causing women to be fearful of men.
  2. In 30 states that have implemented standards for offender treatment programs, 42% of those states prohibit couples counseling, even when both persons want couples counseling and the therapist believes such counseling is safe.
  3. The issuance of restraining orders, often obtained at the same time as a child custody order, often initiates a sequence of events that ultimately leaves children fatherless.
  4. Monies from VAWA Section 103, Legal Assistance for Victims, are often used to pay for legal expenses associated with separation and divorce.

Report:

VAWA has served to weaken the family structure, in several ways;

  1. Portraying men as abusers and batterers, making women wary of their husbands and boyfriends, thereby diminishing trust and respect between the sexes.
  2. Incentivizing false allegations of abuse (free legal help, priority on low-income housing, free-pass to foreign nationals to get a Green Card and eventual citizenship), and not sanctioning false accusers.
  3. Failing to address the leading causes of intimate partner violence: alcohol abuse, mental illness, and marital discord. This allows these social problems to fester and worsen.
  4. Taxing marriage licenses to support abuse shelters, thereby creating the false impression that marriage increases the risk of violence.
  5. In many states, banning mediation or couples counseling if an allegation of abuse has been made.
  6. Lobbying efforts by state domestic violence coalitions to marginalize father involvement following divorce.

The annual taxpayer costs for federal poverty programs arising from family fragmentation and fatherlessness are conservatively estimated at $100 billion to $112 billion. By conservative estimates, American taxpayers are paying $20 billion annually to support single-parent families that have been harmed by a false allegation of domestic violence.