Author Archives: helenbonnick

by | January 28, 2014 · 4:07 pm

Why telling people they are bad parents is not the answer

When the issue of fining parents for allowing their children to arrive late to school, for persistent non-attendance, or for taking them on holiday in term-time comes up – as it does regularly – it arouses a whole mixture of emotions and responses, in me and in the public at large. Add to the mix the suggestion that ‘good citizen neighbours’ should be wading in, or that telling people they are bad parents will bring about the desired effect, and you’ve pressed enough of my buttons for me to go firing off at random in all directions!

Many of the issues were addressed admirably in the Guardian last week by Patrick Fagan here and by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett here. Continue reading →

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by | January 24, 2014 · 10:21 pm

“I promise you we’ll do some more investigation”

Following on from the fantastic UK media coverage of parent abuse in the second half of last year, the radio features and interviews have continued through January.

This week both Eddie Nestor, on his BBC Radio London Drive Time programme (01.21.50 – 01.26.26), and BBC Radio Oxford’s Phil Gayle with the Breakfast show (01.40.18 – 01.44.48) have brought children’s violence to parents to the attention of listeners. Continue reading →

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by | January 20, 2014 · 9:47 pm

Unusual intervention of the week #1

More used to the offer of craft, drama or DJing as an activity to engage young people in work addressing parent abuse, I was intrigued to hear about the use of horses in therapy, specifically as an aid to understanding emotions and relationships.

HorseHeard is a not-for-profit social enterprise company with the tag line, “Experiential learning through interaction with horses”. For those not so used to being around these beasts, horses are apparently very sensitive to non-verbal communication, mood or intention and provide instant feedback to those working with them. As such they have been useful in enabling people to explore and understand feelings of self-awareness, communication or, of particular interest here, issues around parenting or challenging behaviour. Continue reading →

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by | January 7, 2014 · 6:13 pm

Teenagers Speak

I was very moved to hear the Teens’ Speech on the radio last weekend and thought it worth linking to here.

Kate Tempest, performance poet, presents her specially commissioned piece which was written for the 2009 Barnardo’s Teens’ Speech project.

The full 17 minute film from the project can also be viewed here.

A reminder that each one of us is individual, complex and sensitive in our own way.

A positive story to start the new year.

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by | January 1, 2014 · 12:01 am

A good year, and more to come.

It has been a real privilege to be engaged in the work to raise awareness of child to parent violence over the last year; and indeed in compiling this blog and the accompanying pages. It has seemed as if 2013 has been the year that things have really taken off in the UK, with one major piece of research reported and others underway in Britain, attracting huge media attention. Despite budget cuts local authorities have found money for training events, as children’s violence has become such an issue in their work. Projects and responses have emerged across all disciplines as the need has been identified. Significant work has been done by the Youth Offending Service in promoting good practice and publicising the work of specialist projects. Elsewhere a pilot is well underway in Victoria, Australia, and papers are emerging from around the world as practitioners and academics seek to understand the phenomenon and support families in distress. Continue reading →

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by | December 23, 2013 · 5:55 pm

Adolescent Violence in the Home: website and video

I have written in the past about the Peninsula Health ‘Adolescent Violence in the Home’ project in Victoria, Australia, which has been running for the last two years.

This week I was sent details of the website which has been developed as part of the work, and which gives a link to an animation which clearly and succinctly lays out what is understood about adolescent violence in the home. The film is Australia-specific in that it refers to particular services, but could otherwise be used very successfully as an introduction to the issue for professionals or families.

A final research report should be available in February 2014.

I am grateful to the Peninsula Health team for making the material available and for permission to link to it here.

This post updated 18th January 2017 with new website link

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by | December 17, 2013 · 9:13 am

News from the 2013 Youth Justice Convention

The Youth Justice Convention, hosted over two days in Birmingham, UK, at the end of November, included this year a seminar on children’s violence to parents (CPV).  The convention is an annual event – this was the fourteenth – and is an opportunity to debate and discuss the latest youth justice policy developments. All the seminars are archived online and can be accessed here. (Update 2017: these videos don’t seem to be available any longer)

The CPV seminar, number 20 in the archive, was chaired by Paula Wilcox, with Martyn Stoner of Break4Change, and Paul Morris and Vicky Hodgson, from Hull Youth Offending Service, where a Step Up project has been piloted. Each gave a presentation of their project with a discussion at the end about differences and similarities. Continue reading →

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by | December 12, 2013 · 6:13 pm

The Lost Soul: parent abuse on the big screen

Every so often I come across something completely different in my searches regarding parent abuse. One such find was the company Paramita Entertainment, which I first encountered tweeting about the development of a film, THE LOST SOUL.

Paramita Entertainment was established to create films that have a positive impact on important issues that need to be brought to life. It was created by two Buddhist Lamas, Emilia Henriques da Silva and Jacques-Yves Mistretta, after they had been consulting on a film project in France. They saw the positive and powerful impact that films can have and decided they could address important topics through the medium of film. The company has been set up with the initiative to not only create films that are powerful on topics that might have been taboo in film before, but also to undertake direct action towards assisting those facing the issues they are addressing. Continue reading →

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by | December 6, 2013 · 3:31 pm

Some book reviews

A couple of reviews for Amanda Holt’s text, Adolescent-to-Parent Abuse: Current Understandings in Research, Policy and Practice, have been brought to my attention recently.

Janet Jamieson has a review in the journal Youth Justice, and Sarah Galvani in Social Work Education: the international journal.

Both are very positive, commenting on the dearth of available literature, and drawing attention to the usefulness, to those from many backgrounds and fields of work, of the text itself.

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by | November 29, 2013 · 2:14 pm

Parent abuse coverage during the international week to end violence against women

BBC Radio Northants provided a comprehensive backdrop to the NADA (Northamptonshire Against Domestic Abuse) Domestic Abuse Conference which took place in Kettering on Wednesday 27th November, during this International End Violence Against Women week. Stuart Linnell used his breakfast show to introduce the issue of parent abuse and to interview parents as well as keynote speakers at the conference. You can listen again here for the next few days. Continue reading →

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