“Judging by research in Spain and the USA we believe thousands of parents in England and throughout the EU suffer CPV but the problem is rarely articulated in government policy and it remains a taboo subject that parents and carers find difficult to disclose. We know that Spain has conducted more work on this issue and as a result it has seen an increase in reports by parents and carers. In Spain the number of complaints filed by parents against their children has increased from 1,627 in 2006 to 5,377 in 2011 which is a 230 per cent increase (Ministerio de Justicia 2012 cited in Calvete et al 2013).
“From our research, mothers are the most likely to suffer violence and mostly from adolescent sons. Currently, the children in these cases in all the European countries except Spain are identified via referral from schools, social workers, domestic violence agencies and youth offending services. All this involves social costs for families and financial costs for the government.”
Dr Wilcox said victims have difficulty seeking help but she stressed: “Abusive behaviour by children can be changed. Practitioners can equip children and parents/carers with strategies and skills to recognise when a situation is escalating and to reduce the potential risk of harm.”
Along with the University of Brighton, the multi-agency research group included Brighton & Hove City Council, the National University of Ireland (Galway), Universitat de Valencia in Spain, the National Association XXI Century Rhodopa Mountain Initiative in Bulgaria and Amal Municipality in Sweden.
The action research assessed the effectiveness of two existing intervention models ‘Break4Change’ and ‘Non Violent Resistance’ from a gendered perspective across five European countries – Bulgaria, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and England.
Break4Change is a specialist CPV intervention programme in Brighton and Hove which has parallel groups for parents and young people. It helps children to share, to learn and investigate their reactions and responses. They learn techniques to cope better with emotions and emotional literacy. Nonviolent Resistance (NVR) is being run in Ireland as an approach for parents who are trying to respond to CPV and offers a one to one approach.
The new research recommendations include calls for:
- EU policy development to include CPV in child protection, domestic violence and child maltreatment prevention policy.
- More data and research to better assess the prevalence of CPV.
- Training for practitioners and a network of specialised CPV interventions to enable parents and young people to gain the support they need.
The findings have been welcomed by Councillor Sue Shanks, chair of Brighton & Hove City Council’s Children & Young People Committee, who said: “This study has helped ensure effective practice for us in Brighton and Hove through the opportunities to share good practice and evidence based research.
“As a council, we are committed to further developing Break4Change and have included this within our domestic violence and sexual violence delivery plan. We have also included it as part of our early help approach to prevent problems spiralling.”
Funding for the research came from the European Union under the Daphne III programme and, Dr Wilcox said, the project already has contributed to the protection of children, young people and women against this form of violence.
Dr Wilcox added: “This pan-European approach has contributed greatly to the further development of change models and the better understanding of CPV.
“The good practice identified in this research can be used to safeguard and improve future outcomes for children and their families who are affected by this problem.”