I am very excited to bring to your attention the landmark CAPVA (child and adolescent to parent violence and abuse) survey being launched by Respect! Despite increasing attention to this issue – and media coverage – it seems that awareness of prevalence and the impact on families by people in the wider community in the UK remains poor. Hopefully this survey will give a clearer picture of what is known and experienced, and how responses can be made more effective.
The survey is open until August 29th, but don’t leave it till the last minute!
Respect launches landmark CAPVA survey
Domestic abuse charity Respect has launched a survey, aiming to create a national picture of the public’s understanding and experiences of child/ adolescent to parent violence and abuse, known as CAPVA.
I wish all those reading this a peaceful and encouraging new year.
It is customary to hope for new and better things in the year ahead, but we know that for many families the passing of time seems to bring only a consolidation of their anxieties and pain. The holiday period can be especially stressful and so many people will be emerging bruised and battered – and not just emotionally. But there are reasons to be hopeful as we face the coming months and I would like to share some with you.
When the first Home Office guidance document for those working with what was then termed Adolescent to Parent Violence and Abuse was published in 2015, the need for a revision / update became clear very quickly as new understanding and methods of work developed. Amongst those insights was the prevalence among much younger children, impacting particularly the ways the behaviour was conceptualised; leading to problems around an agreed terminology and definition.
Over the years, countless researchers and reports have called for the establishment of a working group to consider these issues. We recognise that there remain many different terms in use, all for very particular reasons. But without agreed terminology and in the absence of an official definition, problems remain with the collection of data, the compilation of statistics, the commissioning of services, and – most importantly – the understanding and recognition by families of their experiences and the ability to ask for help in a way that is immediately understood.
After many years of meetings, changes of staff, changes of emphasis and focus on adult domestic abuse, the 2022 Policy Paper, Tackling Domestic Abuse included a commitment to developing a sector agreed definition; and I am thrilled to announce that we finally have a public consultation on the definition of child to parent abuse, which will include space to comment on terminology. The team at the Home Office have been working on this for many months, speaking to key stakeholders in order to produce the consultation framework. The consultation is open till 7th February, so please do take the time to have a look and send in your comments.
The organisers of this would particularly like to hear from those with lived experience: parents and young people, who are able to offer insights that may be missed by those researching and working in the field.
Amongst the many posts on CPA Awareness Day 2023, it was fantastic to see the new animation launched by Respect, created in partnership with their Durham delivery partners. Respect were celebrating the success of the Respect Young People’s Programme, their intervention for families experiencing child or adolescent to parent violence and abuse (known as CAPVA). This included publishing impressive new evaluation figures, provided by their Cambridge delivery partners, alongside the animation – raising awareness of the issue of CAPVA, and the support available to families.
The animation was created in partnership with Durham PCC, Durham Council and Investing in Children, and attracted much attention on the day, and it was particularly encouraging to see it covered in the Police Oracle. ‘PCC Darryl Preston, who funds the programme, says it’s an “excellent example” of how effective early intervention can be.’
Last year the organisation PEGS organised the first CPA Awareness Day, to promote awareness and understanding of the issues, and to make more people aware that advice and help is available.
This year’s Awareness Day is just around the corner, October 14th being the proposed day, and provides a great opportunity once again to amplify voices and get the word out there.
Depending on where you work – or study – there will be different things that you can do, but here are some ideas that have worked for others:
Compose a message to go out through the day on social media
Host a coffee morning at your service
Invite the local press to cover the issue or to promote your work
Set up a stall with flyers and other materials – an ideal opportunity to chat to people who may not know anything!
Arrange for posters to go up in targeted places
Contact local politicians or commissioners
Write something for a professional or community newsletter
And share what you do – so that we can keep the momentum going even longer!
PEGS have a resource pack on their website with free to download posters and other materials if you need help in this way.
Calling all those involved in delivering or commissioning work to support parents experiencing child to parent violence and abuse!I am pleased to repost the information below from the University of Sheffield, who are undertaking an evaluative study into work with children using harmful behaviours towards their parents and carers.
Dhriti Suresh-Eapen and AVA are thrilled to publish the findings and recommendations from their Hear ME project today.
This one-year small scope project sought to centre the experiences of mothers experiencing violence and abuse from their adult children, and to start to fill a massive gap in understanding and policy recommendations. Over the course of many months, the research team heard from those on the frontline, both as parents and as practitioners, before formulating a series of proposals which are brought together in this report.
The government is currently working on an update to the multi-agency statutory guidance document, Working together to Safeguard Children, as part of the first phase of their plans to transform Children’s Social Care.
We want to see strengthened multi-agency working across the whole system of help, support and protection for children and their families, a system re-balanced towards help at an early point, and strong, effective and consistent child protection practice.
Please take a look at the government website on this in order to read the consultation documents, to take part in the survey and attend the consultation events on June 29th and September 4th.
I started posting news about the project I was working on, with others, to map provision for families experiencing child to parent violence and abuse (CPVA) in 2014, with regular updates before finally launching the page on my website in October 2015. At that time we knew of maybe 30 specialist services dotted around the country, some already well established, and others already a little precarious in their funding stream. Since that time there has been an exciting slow but steady growth in provision as different agencies have got on board, speeding up most recently through the support of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner‘s work in raising the profile of CPVA.
Keeping the Directory up to date and relevant has been a mammoth task, and one which is now beyond my capabilities with the growth in services, and so I have been working with Respect for the last year to see how it might migrate onto a new platform. Respect have a long history of work with young people using violence and abuse in the home, and importantly they also already have a large database of services within the domestic abuse arena, and so I knew that this was an area of work that they had both the experience and capacity to maintain for the future. Over the last months, all members of the old directory were contacted and gave permission to move across and the new Directory was finally launched last week!
HOLES IN THE WALL 