Honolulu Weekly

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and a letter (10/14) from Michael Ra Bouchard creates misunderstanding and fear about the nature of domestic violence. Mr. Bouchard demands that abusers must be mandated to domestic violence treatment, yet anger is a family problem. You cannot treat one person as if they have a sickness. The family must learn to change. There is an industry of people who will exploit a family rift to rip children from their fathers. 911 is not a parenting style. Advocating government intervention in families deeply hurts children, families and our whole society. The Family Education Training Center of Hawaii has helped hundreds of families over the past five years. Similar educational material can be found on [activeparenting.com]. Every family experiences conflict during their lifetimes. Resolving conflict for mutual benefit sometimes requires apologies and forgiveness and nearly always requires education. There is no excuse for tearing a family apart.

Larry Holbrook
Kaimuki