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.

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Mapping CAPVA support in Merseyside

Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership – Child/Adolescent to Parent Violence and Abuse (CAPVA) Research

Researchers at Liverpool John Moores University are currently conducting a study on Child and Adolescent to Parent Violence and Abuse, with the aim of mapping provision across Merseyside to gain a better understanding of support availability and effectiveness, as well as how services could be improved.

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Introducing a new CPVA Directory!

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!

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CPVA Community Networking

This feels like something I’ve been banging on about since forever! Suggesting that individuals and organisations link up with each other to share knowledge and build capacity, to encourage each other and find strength in collaboration. Some organisations have a ready-made network through the particular programme they offer, for instance Who’s in Charge? or RYPP; some have built links across disciplines within their authority, such as the networking events run by Capa; others have contacted colleagues in the neighbouring boroughs or from friendships built at conferences. We saw the benefits at first hand during lockdown, when a number of events were held on line to keep people enthused and inspired. This seems particularly valuable, working in a field which remains poorly understood in some areas, and indeed, where reflective – and effective – supervision may be difficult to access.

In this spirit, I invite you to read the following letter, from Lou Mason, founder of the Sunflower Network and the Sunflower Hub. Lou and I spoke a while back after we were introduced, and I offered her this space to talk about the work she does and the opportunities offered by her organisation.

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CAPVA: A Hidden Problem

I wrote about the DAC Festival of Practice a month ago, and I was thrilled to receive this poem just now. Records were made of the various sessions in a range of ways, including graphically and through poetry from the spoken word poets who had been invited to participate. Many thanks to Rakaya Fetuga, who took these minutes of our presentation and the ensuing discussion.

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CAPVA: Making services more effective for all.

A post from Respect caught my eye at the end of last week, and in the run up to World Autism Awareness Day.

The Respect Young People’s team, who developed the Respect Young People’s Programme (RYPP), one of the first programmes for families experiencing child//adolescent to parent violence and abuse (CAPVA) in the UK, became aware of the high number of referrals from families where there was an additional diagnosis of autism, and worked with a research team and families to make adaptations that would make the programme more autism-aware, more accessible, more effective.

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Innovation, Collaboration and Good Practice in work with CAPVA

I arrived home late last night from the 1st Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s Festival of Practice, exhausted but buzzing!

The Festival brought together those working in statutory agencies at the frontline or in decision-making or commissioning capacities in relation to domestic abuse, those working in the domestic abuse specialist sector, and very importantly, survivors of abuse who have such an important role to play in developing responses in this field. There was consideration of progress since the Domestic Abuse Act came into law, and the launch of the DAC Strategic Plan.

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CPV Research Findings

One of the many joys of what I do is hearing about research that is taking place, bringing greater understanding of the issue of child to parent violence, and developing resources that will better help and support families in the future. So forgive me if the blog posts seem a little research-focussed over the next weeks!

Bethan Pell, studying at Cardiff University, contacted me some time ago and I have been eagerly waiting the report from her Masters studies and her plans as she progresses to begin her PhD.

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Resource Tool in development

A message from Silenced:

We would like to hear from people with a lived experience of child to parent violence and abuse to inform a resource tool that can be used by professionals supporting families experiencing #CPVA.

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Capa First Response gains further funding from The National Lottery Community Fund to continue to support families experiencing child/adolescent to parent abuse. 

Capa First Response is a remote resource for families, offering a 1-2-1 service tailored to each family’s situation. They offer support and advice, for both the adults and the children, with the focus on putting in place strategies to reduce harmful, explosive and controlling impulses, often referred to as abusive and violent behaviour in the home. 

Founded by Jane Griffiths in 2019 with an aim of providing support options for families who struggle to find help in their local area, Capa First Response has expanded over time to work not just with families in need, but also to train professionals working with families in order to allow more people access to help in this vital area. Jane has over 30 years of experience working with families, and for the past 11 years she has worked specifically with families where a child uses harmful behaviours towards a parent or caregiver.  

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