When an election is called, civil servants are subject to strict rules about what they can and can’t do. The work of government is in effect paused until the new administration takes office. This means that from 24th May it has not been possible to learn any more about the Home Office Consultation on terminology and the definition of child to parent abuse; and more importantly that it is not clear what will happen after the election on July 4th. Having been banging on about this for at least the last ten years, and having just this week announced my retirement, I am struggling not to take this personally!
Continue readingCategory Archives: Policy
Public Consultation on the Definition of Child to Parent Abuse
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.
The Consultation document can be accessed here.
Any questions on the consultation should be addressed to the team at CPAConsultation@homeoffice.gov.uk
Thank you!!!!!!
Filed under Announcements, Policy
Hear ME project published
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.
Continue readingFiled under Announcements, Policy, projects, publications, Research
Updating the Working Together Guidance
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.
Filed under Announcements, Policy
Home Office Standards for Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programmes
The Home Office launched a set of 7 over arching principles and practice guidelines yesterday, January 9th, to support the commissioning and delivery of services in domestic abuse perpetrator work. The Standards centre the enhanced safety and freedom of all victim-survivors, including children, and are based on evidence of what has been shown to be important and effective through an evaluation of the available literature and consultation with stakeholders. The report was written by Professor Nicole Westmarland and Professor Liz Kelly. I was privileged to be part of the supporting group.
But what does this have to do with child and adolescent to parent abuse you might ask.
Continue readingFiled under Announcements, Policy
Statutory Guidance to the Domestic Abuse Act published
At the start of the month, the Government published the Statutory Guidance to the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, taking into account the results of the consultation process which took place in the latter part of last year. The guidance document is intended to “to increase awareness and inform the response to domestic abuse. It also conveys standards and promotes best practice.” The various chapters consider an understanding of domestic abuse, recognising domestic abuse, the impact on those involved, the different needs and circumstances of individuals affected, and agency responses – whether individually or as part of multi-agency groupings. While the vast majority of the document deals with abuse perpetrated by adults, it is important that there is also included the issue of young people’s harmful behaviour, whether towards their peers, or towards their parents / carers.
Continue readingA Response to the Review of Children’s Social Care
The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care has been published less than a week, but there have already been many, many responses, analyses and commentaries. Most speak from their own particular interest angle, and that is what I will try to do, though I would like to make some general comments first.
As a social worker I have thoughts on the whole report and – full disclosure – my first qualified job was within a patch team where we served a small neighbourhood, working to build protective relationships and activate community initiatives, as well as providing direct support and intervention; so I am all in favour of small, locally based teams working together across different disciplines in a way that is defined by the neighbourhood itself, intervening early on before difficulties are entrenched or crisis point is reached.
Continue readingFiled under Policy, publications
A response to the Government’s Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan
Somewhat delayed because of family circumstances, but I thought it would be helpful to have a look at the Government’s recently published Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, and offer some thoughts.
Before I get started, a couple of caveats. First, the debate continues as to whether it is appropriate to consider child to parent violence and abuse under this umbrella. There are those who feel very strongly that it should be, because of the harm caused and the frequent links to the experience of intimate partner violence and abuse. (Academics such as Wilcox (2012) have made this case. PEGS literature is another case in point.) Others find the terminology and conceptualisation problematic, and shy away, preferring to focus on the age, the trauma and vulnerability of the children and young people themselves (for instance, many within the adoption community would feel this way). My sense from listening to people is that both views have merit, but that the circumstances around the harmful behaviour and family situation need to be taken into account in order to properly reflect each family’s situation.
Continue readingFiled under Policy
In July, the Government published the draft statutory guidance on Domestic Abuse with a consultation period ending on 14th September 2021.
The key objectives of the guidance are to:
- provide clear information on what domestic abuse is in order to assist with its identification
- provide guidance and support to frontline professionals, who have responsibilities for safeguarding and supporting victims of domestic abuse, for example through outlining relevant strategic and operational frameworks
- improve the institutional response to domestic abuse by conveying best practice and standards for commissioning responses
The guidance extends to England and to Wales insofar as it relates to reserved or non-devolved matters in Wales.
You will find links to various versions of the draft guidance and information on how to submit a response.
Child/adolescent to parent violence is specifically mentioned on pages 20 – 23, including an illustrative case study; and there is discussion about age on page 36, the impact on a child of living with domestic abuse from page 59; and chapter 5 deals with multi-agency cooperation. However, there is real value in reading the whole document, with a recognition of the many different vulnerabilities experienced by families, and multiple points of discrimination and stigma.
Whether or not CPV should be considered as a form of DA remains a contentious issue, but, nevertheless, it is contained within the Act and strong arguments have been made regarding the connections with DA. So regardless of whether you feel this is the right place for a response to be sited, please do take the time to read the draft guidance and consider whether there are comments you can usefully make to improve the document – and policy and practice – as it stands.
Thank you!
Filed under Policy
New VAWG consultation open
The Home Office has launched a Call for Evidence to help inform the development of the next Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy for England and Wales (2021 – 2024). The consultation runs for 10 weeks, closing on 19th February 2021. This will be the third iteration of the VAWG strategy, and although the first 2 have included mention of child and adolescent to parent violence, the content and resulting action has been disappointingly little so far. (See more in my blog posts about this here and here.)
There is a move to consider Domestic Abuse crimes specifically and separately in a consultation to follow Royal Assent of the Domestic Abuse Bill next year. However, it is recognised that this will also be included within the VAWG strategy. Views are sought from those with lived experience of, or views on crimes considered as violence against women and girls. This includes those involved in research, in preventative work, or in the development of and provision of services. The government is particularly interested to hear from those who feel under-represented in previous strategies, or whose needs are not currently supported.
This will be an excellent opportunity to attract further attention to the issue of child and adolescent to parent violence at higher strategic level, so please do consider taking part. While we would want to divert young people from the criminal justice system in terms of response, there are many instances where actions might be considered crimes, and parents choose to involved the police for their own safety and that of their young person. It is currently through police data that we are building a picture of the range and prevalence of behaviour; and with ongoing work training police in recognising and responding to C/APV it is arguably even more important that it gains greater recognition at government level.
There are a number of ways to submit evidence, which are all outlined on the relevant Government website pages, but the easiest way is to complete the public survey.
Filed under Policy
HOLES IN THE WALL 