Soon after viewing the Channel 5 documentary last week, I received this paper, from Neusa Patuleia, a clinical psychologist / family therapist in Portugal. (De)constructing Child-to-Parent Violence, discusses a particular therapeutic intervention at a residential establishment in that country. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Parent abuse
My Violent Child: the documentary.
First broadcast 18th June 2014 on Channel 5. Available until 13 June 2015
There has been a very mixed response to the documentary about child to parent violence screened on Channel 5 on Wednesday June 18th.
The programme followed three families from around the country, with boys ranging in age from 7 – 14 years. In each case the child had been physically and verbally abusive to his mother for many years and also, in some cases, to other members of the family or within school. The violence was extreme – and graphically depicted – including punching, kicking and hair pulling, strangling, property destruction and apparently an incident with a meat cleaver. While each family had found some form of assistance, it was made clear that this remains a problematic issue, with specialist support not easy to find, and at the end while some progress was being made, we were told that Brett’s mother risked losing the respite care that she had found so important. Continue reading
Filed under Discussion, TV
“The family unit is supposed to be a safe place”
Mapping support for parents
News at last about the mapping project I have been talking about for ages!
A group of interested people is now meeting regularly to try to get his moving. We aim to produce some sort of directory of all the services across the country supporting families experiencing child to parent violence, by the end of the year. It is not clear at this point what form this will take or who will be able to access it initially, but this is huge progress. Between us we know of a considerable number of projects and services working with parent abuse across the country, but no doubt there are many we are missing. It would be great to make this as comprehensive as possible. If you know of services in your area, or indeed elsewhere, please do email me via the Contact page. Thanks. Continue reading
Filed under Discussion, news reports, Training opportunities
Breaking the Cycle in Florida
When I reported recently on the legislative proposals being put forward in Florida, some people expressed concern that the response to children’s violence to their parents was taking a very punitive turn, rather than seeking to support the family through therapeutic interventions. While some would argue that there will always be a need for a criminal justice response in extreme situations I was pleased to hear about an organisation offering a different approach. Breaking the Cycle, describing themselves as “the leading voice on child to parent abuse and violence“, offer a family intervention program and are hosting 2 conferences in the next weeks. There are more details on their website which details the background and theories informing their work.
A bit of a headache over neuroscience
I wrote at the end of March about the impact of work on brain development to understanding about parent abuse, and so I initially found the recent very public spat about the validity of claims being made for neuroscience rather unsettling. A week further on, after hours spent reading and rereading, the main lessons to be taken away from the controversy about the use and abuse of neuroscience seem to be: to think about the agenda of the person writing, not to make extravagant claims for something, and to read things carefully before commenting! Continue reading
Filed under Discussion
Child to parent violence: round the world in a week
A lot more bits and pieces from around the world in the last weeks…..
Good to see the Daphne RCPV website is now up and running. You will find it here, with information about the project and research as a whole, conferences and training events linked to the programme, ways to get involved and a link to the RCPV blog. Recent posts cover the progress of the research in the different participating countries: Sweden, Spain, Bulgaria and Ireland. Continue reading
Filed under Discussion, projects, publications, Research, Training opportunities
Child to Parent Violence: The Adoption Issue
A couple of years ago I was asked to write something about child to parent violence with reference to adoptive families. For a variety of reasons I wrote something with an entirely different focus, and in retrospect I’m glad I did. I had met and interviewed an adoptive mother as part of my Masters research but, while acknowledging that an adopted child might bring issues from their early life to a new family, I had no real understanding at that time of early trauma and its effect on attachment and behaviour. Continue reading
Filed under publications, Research
Child to Parent Violence: the Learning Issue
I offer you a round up of various items that have cropped up in the last weeks, all with something of a learning theme, hence the title of the post.
A third year postgraduate Clinical Counselling student at the University of Chester, Jennifer Thomas, is looking for participants for her dissertation research, title: Exploring the place of counselling for parents who have lived with child-to-parent violence. This is specifically with reference to individual counselling for parents, rather than programmes working with the family. If you would like to know more, or know any one else who can help, I will be happy to pass on your details to Jennifer. Continue reading
Filed under publications, Research, Training opportunities
Adolescent to Parent Violence: An open seminar from Edge Hill University and the British Society of Criminology
The majority of the parent abuse research in the UK has come out of the criminology discipline, and so it was fitting that the Criminology Research Group at Edge Hill University chose Adolescent to Parent Violence as the topic for the first open seminar in a new series sponsored by the British Society of Criminology. Three presentations: from Helen Baker, Simon Retford and Amanda Holt, brought us up to date with some of the current issues being considered. Continue reading
Filed under conference report
Understanding trauma as a precursor to parent abuse
Reading around, and attending conferences recently, I have been impressed with the work of practitioners in the area of early childhood trauma, such as Jane Evans and Kate Cairns. Understanding of the physiological impact of stress, fear and uncertainty makes sense of children’s later behaviour, when apparently innocuous events can trigger responses which may not even be understood by the child themselves. This is particularly pertinent to the field of parent abuse where it has been suggested that almost half of abusing young people have experienced domestic violence in their past or current home life.
Watching film such as this, makes it all the more real. Originally made to raise awareness in the training of foster parents, ReMoved shows the devastating emotional impact on children of living with domestic violence.
ReMoved stands as a powerful and eloquent call for early intervention to enable children to be safe, and to come to terms with their experiences.
Filed under Discussion, Film
