Tag Archives: domestic violence

by helenbonnick | April 25, 2013 · 8:49 am

Changing the DV definition: the debate continues

My attention was drawn this week to the recently released Home Office Guidance, Information for Local Areas on the change to the definition of Domestic Violence and Abuse. Produced in partnership with AVA, the guidance contains a whole section on Child to Parent Violence and calls specifically for the support of local groups working with families experiencing parent abuse, and the training of domestic violence workers in their work with this form of family violence.

At the same time, I received some comments from Anne-Marie Harris, Senior Development Adviser for Effective Practice with the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, addressing the extension of the definition and drawing attention again to the need to exercise caution in the way these developments are carried forward. These are reproduced here and are particularly pertinent in the light of the guidance issued. Continue reading →

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Tagged as AVA, Child to parent violence, criminalisation of young people, domestic violence, Effective Practice Library, Parent abuse, safeguarding, Step Up, Youth Justice Board

by helenbonnick | April 8, 2013 · 7:51 am

“An alignment of the planets”

Returning to the topic of themes that emerged from the recent conference on domestic violence by children against parents, in Nottingham, I’d like to look at 2 more ideas that caught my attention.

Launching the conference, Jo Sharpen, from AVA, described it as very timely, and indeed, throughout the day, speakers referred to a series of events that support our focus on the issue of child to parent violence at this time. The changed definition of domestic violence in England and Wales (with the publication of the Home Office Guidance to which AVA contributed), was highlighted and declared helpful in recognising that under 18s could be abusive, though bringing parent abuse within the domestic violence umbrella was also considered problematic, because of the important differences between CPV and IPV and the potential criminalisation of young people (see my earlier post for more details). March also saw the publication of the UK Government Action Plan: A call to end violence against women and girls, and the launch of the EVAWGUK policy. Though parent abuse is sadly still not specifically mentioned, it does offer opportunities to discuss the issue more widely. Continue reading →

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Tagged as abusive children, AVA, CPV, domestic violence, end violence against women and girls, EVAWGUK, IPV, Jo Sharpen, Parent abuse, RYPP, Simon Retford, Troubled Families Initiative, violence by children against parents

by helenbonnick | April 3, 2013 · 3:53 pm

“Once your awareness is raised, doing nothing is not an option”.

Picking up on a phrase from Jenny Bright in the last post, it has seemed that almost everyone I have spoken with recently has described the point at which they learned about parent abuse as an epiphany. It was, after all, the reason I have given for setting up this site. Each of us responds to that experience in our own way, whether by further study, setting up local provision, or even running a blog; but many describe the need to “raise awareness”. It got me wondering what we actually mean by that phrase. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Child to parent violence, CPV, domestic violence, Hertfordshire Practical Parenting Programme, Jenny Bright, Leeds PACT, Parent abuse, SPAN, WISH

by helenbonnick | March 21, 2013 · 4:44 pm

Emerging themes 1: CPV and IPV

In my last post I referred to the emergence of a number of themes through the day as we met last week in Nottingham. I want to return to one of these now, namely the issues around conceptualising child to parent violence as domestic violence.

This is something that has been covered by a number of people in the past (e.g. Holt or Hunter, Nixon and Parr), but it keeps re-emerging for a number of reasons. Firstly, much of the work being developed in Britain at the moment is taking place within agencies also dealing with adult intimate partner violence, forcing the issue as adjustments are made to approaches or expectations. Secondly, the change in definition of domestic violence within Britain to include perpetrators aged 16 upwards, has been hailed by some as a positive move, allowing the open discussion of the topic in a new way, and the recognition within policy of the reality of parent abuse. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Amanda Holt, Caroline Hunter, Child to parent violence, CPV, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, IPV, Judy Nixon, Julia Worms, Lynette Robinson, Parent abuse, Rachel Condry, restorative justice, Sadie Parr, Step Up

by helenbonnick | February 2, 2013 · 5:44 pm

Child to Parent Violence Webinar

Parenting UK, part of the charity, Family Lives, holds regular events to support practitioners, including, recently, a webinar on the subject of Child to Parent Violence, presented by Oliver Standing, Policy and Projects Co-ordinator from Adfam, and Sara Hassell, a Family Co-ordinator with Family Lives. Oliver was talking about a recent research project. Sara was addressing work she does in a primary school and the tools she uses working to support abused parents. The organisers have made a video of the presentation available to all interested parties (which lasts just under an hour and three quarters), and also links to documents mentioned and to supplementary material. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Adfam, AVA, Child to parent violence, domestic violence, Family Lives, Parent abuse, Parenting UK, substance use

by helenbonnick | January 25, 2013 · 2:24 pm

“Parent abuse is a serious problem”

A tragic story today from Tulsa, of a son, charged with the murder of his mother. There was apparently a history of violence from him in their relationship and he had been arrested in the past for domestic violence assault and battery as the accompanying video makes clear.

Missy Iski, Director of Programs and Counseling at DVIS, comments on the piece, encouraging people to talk more about the serious problem of parent abuse. She gives phone numbers of helping agencies in the Tulsa area.

I was reminded of a journal article from Walsh and Krienert of 2009 which drew distinctions between child to parent violence and parricide. Their own study suggested that these were two distinct problems. Nevertheless, abused parents report frequently feeling fearful for their lives, sometimes with good cause as demonstrated here.

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Tagged as Child to parent violence, domestic violence, Parent abuse, Walsh and Krienert

by helenbonnick | January 7, 2013 · 4:12 pm

A Review of Parent Abuse in 2012

Looking back over the last year, I was re-reading my post of January 1^st 2012, which I concluded by saying

As we enter the new year, the task before us is to clearly and honestly set out the facts of parent abuse, without resorting to scare mongering and without blaming one side or another; and to do so in a way that politicians, policy makers, practitioners and public all come to recognise that abuse for what it is, and seek to support the whole family to turn their lives around.

2012 certainly proved to be an interesting and exciting year in the field of parent abuse work as people got to grips with the task at hand! Continue reading →

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Tagged as 4Children, Adfam, Amanda Holt, AVA, domestic violence, Parent abuse

by helenbonnick | October 3, 2012 · 10:26 am

Understanding Parent Abuse in under 90 minutes?

Writing some training materials recently, I’ve been forced to be more concise than usual about the main issues facing practitioners working in the field of parent abuse at the moment. An hour and a half doesn’t feel very long when there is so much to say!

So far, this is what I’ve come up with. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Child to parent violence, domestic violence, Eddie Gallagher, Kirsty Calliva, Lily Anderson, Mark Drakeford, Parent abuse, Step Up

by helenbonnick | September 30, 2012 · 8:32 am

“Parent abuse is a domestic violence issue”

Yet another training opportunity, this time in County Wicklow, Ireland, on Thursday 8th November. The day long seminar is amazing value at €35, including a 3 course buffet lunch. Why would you not go!

Participants will hear from academics and practitioners across disciplines, looking at different aspects of support for parents.

The course programme and details for booking are here.

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Tagged as domestic violence, Parent abuse

by helenbonnick | September 20, 2012 · 8:24 am

News of Break4Change

The Brighton and Hove Argus recently published an article about the Break4Change project as part of a domestic violence feature.

Break4Change, addressing parent abuse, has now run 6 successful courses, with the 7^th due to start in October in Brighton. The model, which includes work with parents and young people separately, and places high value on restorative features, is the subject of an ongoing evaluation by researchers at Brighton University, and interest has been sparked around the world, in countries as diverse as Sweden and Bulgaria, Spain and Ireland. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Break4Change, domestic violence, Martyn Stoner, Parent abuse

Tag Archives: domestic violence

Changing the DV definition: the debate continues

“An alignment of the planets”

“Once your awareness is raised, doing nothing is not an option”.

Emerging themes 1: CPV and IPV

Child to Parent Violence Webinar

“Parent abuse is a serious problem”

A Review of Parent Abuse in 2012

Understanding Parent Abuse in under 90 minutes?

“Parent abuse is a domestic violence issue”

News of Break4Change

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