Parent abuse: a hidden form of family violence

1. Parent abuse: a hidden form of family violence Judy Nixon Sheffield Hallam University

2. What is Parent Abuse? • Physical and/or psychological violence including acts of domination or coercion 'when an adolescent attempts physically or psychologically to dominate, coerce and control others in their family. It takes a number of forms. The most commonly acknowledged forms are physical violence, destruction of property and/or possessions, threats and intimidation, psychological, emotional and social abuse, financial abuse and sometimes sexual abuse' (Howard and Rottem, 2008:11) • Important to distinguish abusive behaviour from other troublesome behaviours that could be seen as falling within the range of 'normal' adolescent behaviour

3. Evidence from English FIPs • Evaluation of support projects for those at risk of eviction. Not looking for it…. • In a sample of 84 families –child to adult violence affected 11 % of mothers: “He was like a bloke at 13, shouting at me, made me go to bits and, you know, I mean I couldn’t deal with it.” “…. I was having a lot of trouble with my children and like my son was hitting me – and mental abuse.” (Nixon et al 2008)

4. Evidence from “Breaking the Cycle” • “Well Willie’s just, like the same [as her violence partner], I’d had bad relationships, violence, and its like, I’m getting it from a young boy. And its, its hard but sometimes it actually makes me sick … See when he starts arguing, oh, its like my legs are like jelly [for fear of violence] … And I should nae… be sitting in my own house, scared of my 14 year old boy. I says, I’m sorry it’s a bad day when your son, your own family, steal off you. You know what I mean? And he was sitting, just finished taking the soup up, I had heat it in the microwave and we both sat down. And I says it’s a bad day when your own family steal off you. He went oh F*** you and he flung it in my face” (Pawson et al 2009)

5. Youth Justice and Domestic Violence Studies • Youth Justice • Evidence from a number of small, mainly qualitative, studies suggest that parent abuse is far from uncommon (Squires and Stephen, 2005; Holt, 2009; Condry, 2009). • A study focussing on Parenting Orders found that it was an issue for 12 out of 17 parents (Holt, 2009:3) • Domestic violence • 1996 British Crime Survey found 3% of DV incidents involved child to parent violence (Mirrlees-Black et al , 1996) • A study of Accident and Emergency patients reporting domestic violence at an UK hospital which found that 6% of these cases were child-to-parent (Condry ,2009)

6. Parent line Plus survey • The UK charity Parentline Plus survey of 30,000 calls to its helpline found that a quarter of calls in the period October 2007 - June 2008 concerned reports of children's verbal or physical aggression • Most incidents took place at home, and were targeted at mothers, • The majority of young people were not seen as being eligible for support services as 'children in need' • Many parents have tried to access support from a range of agencies to no avail and reported feeling desperate, isolated, helpless, ashamed and out of control (Parentline Plus, 2008)

7. Characteristics of young people and their parent(s) • Parent characteristics: • there is general agreement that mothers are most likely to be victims • Young People: • most studies suggest that sons rather than daughters are more likely to be physically aggressive; • the age of onset and peak offending varies between studies (typically 12-18); • there is some evidence to suggest that white young people are more likely to abuse their parents as compared to other young people.

8. Innovative responses • Break4change at Brighton and Hove • Multi-agency approach involving a women's refuge project, FIP, YOTs, Children and Young Peoples Trust • Provision of two parallel dedicated programmes of support; one for young people and one for parents • Use of Brief Solution Focussed approach combined with of creative sessions to help young people express their feelings (writing, film work etc) • Early feedback from the project is very promising

9. Key questions to consider • Have any of you come across cases involving parent abuse? • How can we take this issue forward and develop new avenues and perspectives for policy and practice? • What action should be taken and by whom to deal with this complex form of family violence? • What role should existing services (Social Landlords, ASB/youth justice; Domestic Violence; child care) have? • Is there a case for developing specialist provision? • Do we need further research and if so what aspects of the problem should research focus on?

10. References • Break4Change Brighton and Hove. Contact for more information: Dennis Bryne Target Youth Support Team Leader Brighton and Hove City council email: Denis,Byrne@brighton-hove.gov.uk Tel 01273 294783 • Biehal, N. (2005) Working with Adolescents supporting families, preventing breakdown London: British Association for Adopting and Fostering • Condry, R. (2009) Adolescent-to-parent Violence: A challenge for Youth Justice Paper presented to the British Society of Criminology Conference University of Glasgow • Holt, A. (2009) Parent Abuse: Some reflections on the adequacy of a Youth Justice Response Internet Journal of Criminology Accessed 20/11/09 http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/Holt_Parent_Abuse_Nov_09.pdf • Howard, J. and Rottem, N. (2008) It all starts at home: male adolescent violence to mothers. Aresearch report. Inner Couth community Health Service Inc and Child Abuse Research Australia. Monash University • Nixon J., Hunter C., Myers S., Parr S., Sanderson D. (2006) ASB Intensive Family Support Projects: An evaluation of 6 pioneering projects London: Department for Communities and Local Government • Pawson H., Davidson E., Sosenko F., Flint J., Nixon J., Casey R., Sanderson D. (2009) Evaluation of Intensive Family Support Projects in Scotland Edinburgh: Scottish Executive • Parentline (2008) You can't say go and sit on the naughty step because they turn round and say make me' Aggressive behaviour in children: parents' experiences and needs. Accessed 2/02/2010 ttp://www.parentlineplusforprofessionals.org.uk/cmsFiles/policy_briefings/Aggressive_behaviour_in_children151008.pdf