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 readingHearing from adopters about living with traumatised young people
In March 2016 I went to Kings Cross to meet with someone I had been talking to on Twitter for a year. Needless to say, my family were horrified! I have just been looking back over our preparatory conversation – lots of nonsense about what we both looked like and whether we would be wearing a rose to recognise each other. Reader, we both survived the experience and became good friends, working together to raise awareness of child to parent violence and abuse and the lack of support particularly for older adolescents and young adults post adoption.
This last weekend, ‘J’ – because it was her I met, founder of The POTATO Group – and the rest of the POTATO committee, put on a conference in Birmingham: Far, far beyond the adoption order, Lessons from lives impacted by trauma. Organised entirely by themselves, while simultaneously parenting traumatised young people and adults, it was by far one of the most powerful and moving presentations I have ever seen.
Continue readingFiled under conference report, Family life
Call for Manuscripts: Frontiers in Psychiatry
Please see this Call for Manuscripts for work related to Understanding Child to Parent Violence: From Development to Intervention. The call is open till July 16th. You will find all the guidelines included on the page. The topic will be edited by Ashlee Curtis, Eva Nowakowski-Sims, Richelle Mayshak and Travis Harries.
Filed under Announcements, Research
A new way of thinking: The Explosive Child
I was first recommended this book by Kate Iwi in 2018, and reminded of it again reading the recent paper from Nikki Rutter.
Greene offers a new way of thinking about “behaviourally challenging children”, and about their parents, which prompts a different response to their behaviour from the adults around them. While he uses the term ‘Explosive’ in the title, he admits to being a little unhappy with it as he finds the challenging behaviour to be often predictable, and also often ‘implosive’. Nevertheless, it will chime with many families, who will recognise the behaviours described within its pages. Greene lays out ‘Plan B’ in easily digestible steps as a way forward in the journey to restoring peace and safety in the home. With many examples both of the behaviour, and scripts to follow, this is a book that you could comfortably read in a couple of sessions – but don’t! With resources to download and homework to do you will be referring to this over a longer period of time.
Continue readingFiled under Book review, Discussion
The Importance of Co-Production in work with young people
The Respect Young People’s Service people have been busy!
Following on from my last post, they have also been looking at the way the work they deliver can be shaped by the voices of the young people. Capturing these voices is so important – and not done often enough – so it is fantastic to be able to repost this from them (with permission), with links to the new resource they have developed. Please do read the whole piece and check out other content on the Respect Young People’s Service website, for the National Directory, Community Forum, and regular news and updates.
The art of coproduction: How young people’s voices shape the Respect Young People’s Service
25 Mar 2024
Continue readingFiled under Announcements, projects
Creating a National Picture of Understanding of CAPVA
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.
Continue readingFiled under Announcements
The experiences of families caring for children with FASD: “no one came to help”
It is suggested that the prevalence of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) is greater than autism, and yet there remains significantly less understanding of this issue, information for families and practitioners, and support for those impacted by the condition. In 2023, Waite and Burd reported that “At an estimated prevalence of up to five percent in the general population, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are the most common neurodevelopmental disorder”.
Continue readingFiled under Discussion, publications, Research
Learning from the internet
We are only just coming to the end of January, but it has been interesting already to read a number of papers which have been published online this month. Two particularly attracted my attention: that from Harries, Curtis, Skvarc, Benstead, Walker and Mayshak, and also this one from Cortina and Holt – ‘This is what happens to people who don’t spank their kids’: An analysis of YouTube comments to news reports of child to parent violence.
Continue readingFiled under Discussion, Research
Bringing the focus on families experiencing CAPVA in Merseyside.
In the run up to the end of last year I began piling up “things to read” – and am finally finding a space to work my way through some fascinating papers and reports.
Top of the pile was the report from Liverpool John Moores University in conjunction with Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership, Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership – Child and Adolescent to Parent / Caregiver Violence and Abuse (CAPVA) research study 2023. The report examines the awareness of CAPVA in the Merseyside area, and the current responses to it, as well as making a series of recommendations for the development of both going forward. For the study, the team interviewed a number of practitioners and families to inform their findings, and there are extensive quotes from them within the report which bring energy and emphasis.
Continue readingFiled under Research
HOLES IN THE WALL 