It was wonderful to see this piece on Professor Rachel Condry. Published by the University of Oxford, highlighting her journey into academia, her pioneering research into adolescent-to-parent violence, and her upcoming research project.
Rachelhas been a long time advocate for challenging assumptions around family harm, a supporter of HITW, and we particularly like this quote from the piece
“‘What we need is for people to be asking the right questions and, for that to happen, the problem has to be named in policy and in local authority documents. Families shouldn’t automatically be seen as part of the problem. Professionals need the curiosity to understand what people are really experiencing.”
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.
HOLES IN THE WALL 