One of the things that gives me hope for the growing awareness within mainstream services of the existence and issues around children’s violence to parents, is the growing numbers of students undertaking research as part of their training. Whether it is at first degree level, Masters, PhD or as a Professional Doctorate – across social work youth services, counselling, the police and even journalism – I am now aware of many pieces of research that are either in proposal stage, in progress, or recently completed in Britain alone. While the body of literature is now significantly growing, some of the most interesting pieces in the past have come via this route (in my opinion) and of course then have an immediate relevance and input to the work on the ground. I hope to offer links to completed work where possible, but here’s a taster in the meantime! Continue reading
Tag Archives: Child to parent violence
Support for adoptive families experiencing violence and abuse from children
The publication last April of the research report: Beyond the Adoption Order highlighted the urgent need within the adoption community for support around the issue of children’s violence to parents, and so I have been interested to follow how this is developing at both the large scale organisational, and more intimate networking, levels. Many adoption agencies offer training around the issue, specifically in Non Violent Resistance (NVR) a theory and technique first developed for this group by Haim Omer. Continue reading
Filed under Discussion, projects, Training opportunities
Child to Parent Violence: Job Opportunity in London
DVIP currently have a vacancy for a part-time Young People’s Service Practitioner (female only), working across London.
The service offers support and interventions to young people using abuse alongside a parallel support service for parents and partners.
You will primarily work with parents experiencing young people’s abuse to help re-establish safe boundaries within the home and to develop improved family interactions. You will also work with young people.
There are also opportunities for sessional work and volunteering. Full details can be found on the DVIP website.
Filed under Uncategorized
A PhD in Adolescent to Parent Violence?
A double treat today from bits and pieces I picked up last week.
First, the opportunity to study for a PhD in adolescent to parent violence with Amanda Holt, at Roehampton University from this September.
More details on this available here.
Secondly, news that Coronation Street will feature a storyline about child to parent violence later this year.
As soon as I hear more detail about the timing of this I will be sure to let you know!
Filed under news reports, Research
Lazy reporting could not spoil an opportunity to discuss parent abuse
This started off as a weary rant from me today and then changed tone as the day progressed!
While it has been exciting and encouraging to see the increase in coverage of child to parent violence and abuse in the media over the last week, I have been disappointed yet again by the tone of some of the pieces and the apparent laziness of reporting.
The main headline in the Times, (you may not be able to read the next line, “Families cannot deal with minor domestic rows”) today picks up on the report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary into the welfare of vulnerable people in police custody, which has held centre stage across the media today. This highlights the often inappropriate use of custody for individuals experiencing poor mental health, or other vulnerabilities, because of a crisis in other support services; and while researchers have said that the findings show pressures faced by many families and carers, and the fact that the police are often used as the agency of last resort, the first example given – thus setting the tone – is of a dispute over a TV remote control. Other examples are given of greater severity of risk and violence. Parents are described as contacting the police because they reach breaking point. But there is no exploration of this issue in a wider way, other than to suggest lone women are finding it particularly difficult to bring up children. Continue reading
Filed under Discussion, news reports, radio and video
A brighter future for families experiencing child to parent violence
Continuing a mini series of interviews about different projects around the country, I have been speaking with Sian Taylor at Wish for a Brighter Future in Bristol.
Wish for a Brighter Future (WISH) has been in operation since 2003, when a small group of Hartcliffe residents identified a need to provide domestic abuse support in their community. WISH worked for many years supporting men, women and children affected by domestic violence and abuse (DVA) within the local community before developing their parent abuse project. They found their understanding and experience of DVA were vital in making the transition from domestic to parent abuse support. While the original expectation was that the work would be with young people, delivering domestic abuse prevention work through education and group work support – and the funding* supported this plan – once the doors opened the organisation was inundated with referrals for parent abuse, and for the last year this has been the sole focus of the work. Continue reading
New Year, New Reading
I have recently been sent links to new and additional published articles in the field of adolescent to parent abuse; and have updated the Reading List page accordingly.
A paper by Caroline Miles and Rachel Condry, Adolescent to parent violence: the police response to parents reporting violence from their children, further develops the discussion arising from the findings of their three-year research project. This paper specifically examines police responses and suggests a way forward that offers support and restorative action for families. (Abstract here.)
Declan Coogan has a paper entitled Responding to Child-to-Parent Violence: Innovative Practices in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, in the Health and Social Work Journal, Special Issue: Child and Adolescent Health. (Abstract here) He considers obstacles in the recognition of, and response to, child to parent violence, and proposes the Non Violent Resistance Programme as a positive way forward.
Sally Donovan’s second book about the experiences of adoptive parenting, The Unofficial Guide, offers a further raw and powerful account of living with children traumatised by earlier life. She offers practical steps and guidance for parents, but the book is well worth reading for anyone involved in the adoption or CPV field.
I’ve also tidied up the links to the Family Lives / Parentline reports as I have been told they have been difficult to find on the website. Hopefully that is now improved.
Please do let me know about any other books or articles to add to the list. It is not exhaustive by any means, and certainly does not include early work, which I should get round to adding at some point!
In the meantime, Happy Reading!
Filed under publications
Child to parent violence: Mapping provision
For some time now a group of people across academia, the public and third sectors have been working on a project to map provision for child to parent violence across Britain. I wrote about this earlier in the year when we hoped it would all be done by now. No laughing at the back! Let’s just say that we are taking an ultra cautious approach.
For such a resource to be of value it needs to be accurate, and we are also concerned to deal with matters of assessing safety and effectiveness. While it is somewhat easier now to talk about violence from children to parents, and there has been an increase in provision over the last few years, this is still scattered unevenly across the country and many families remain unable to access specialist help when they need it. As well as enabling parents and practitioners to identify and locate support more easily, it is hoped that it might provide useful information for commissioners looking to develop a service, and also highlight areas which are particularly under-resourced for some targeted campaigning.
* Are you aware of a local service that could be included?
* Do you work with families experiencing child to parent violence?
* Have you attended training nationally or in your locality with a view to starting up a service?
If any of these ring true for you, please do get in touch via the “contact” page. The project is taking longer than we had anticipated but is still very much moving forward; and I hope there will be more news of this in the next few months.
Filed under projects
HOLES IN THE WALL 