Many communities have little or no enforcement of restraining orders in Domestic Violence cases. Who would want to get a restraining order when you know that will only make the abuser angrier, and no one is willing to enforce it? Quincy, MA, for example, has a very good DV policy and strict enforcement of restraining orders, and takes DV seriously.

Women who work up the courage to try escaping DV need a huge amount of support - a place to stay that will take her and her children, one that the abuser does not know exists and cannot find, help getting kids into a different school if possible, help healing physical and emotional scars enough to find a job, then finding a place to live. Often when a woman leaves that kind of situation, she leaves with nothing but the clothes on her back. She may face condemnation from her own family, as well as any mutual friends the couple had ...

It is a brutally difficult situation.