The revised edition of the Home Office’s ‘A Call to End Violence Against Women and Girls’ Action Plan (2014) has just been published and now includes specific references to child to parent violence, with two actions (reference 63 and 139) ‘Develop and disseminate information for practitioners working with children and families on how to identify and address the risks posed by adolescent to parent violence’. These are new and fall within the joint remit of the Home Office and Youth Justice Board, to be addressed by December 2014 and April 2015 respectively.
The report has 4 chapters: Preventing Violence, The Provision of Services, Partnership Working and Justice Outcomes and Risk Reduction. Under the provision of services, intended outcomes include that women and girls should receive a good and consistent level of service, and that agencies should get it right the first time. Local commissioners should identify and provide high quality services, meeting the needs of victims at the local level. Action 63 is in relation to ‘Improvements in local provision and quality of services for victims of domestic violence and sexual violence’. Action 139 (chapter 4) is developed from the expectation that ‘The Criminal Justice system response to VAWG shows clear improvements’. Interestingly, chapter 3 which urges ‘Better support available for victims and their families from statutory, voluntary and community sectors working together to share information and agree practical action’, includes as one of the case studies the co-location of DVIP in Hackney Children and Young Peoples’ Service (page 41), a service already responding to parent abuse.
The report notes work already undertaken, of relevance here: ‘Publicise the YJB domestic abuse webpage and effective practice library for practitioners working with young perpetrators and consider gaps in service provision’; and of course this all acknowledges the lowering of the age within the domestic violence definition to include young people aged 16 and 17. The recent publication of NICE guidance in recognising and responding to domestic abuse within the health service is also of relevance.
The whole report can be seen here.
