Professor Vanessa Bettinson and Dr Christina Quinlan have produced a report funded by Leicester City Council entitled Preliminary Investigation into Current Understandings of Adolescent to Parent Violence (APV) Among Staff within the Voluntary and Statutory Sector in Leicester.
Through focus groups with staff and a review of case files, the study found that it was difficult to identify APV as it was hidden in the family home and in line with previous work in this area, parents were reluctant to see their children criminalised. Some services were better able to recognise APV and to support families in respect of it. Overall, it was found that it wasn’t until the behaviour crossed into physical violence that it was brought to the attention of the authorities. At this point the child/young person usually became enmeshed in the criminal justice system.
The cases looked at showed a high degree of complications within the family and high number of services involved. The background of cases were varied, however, there was a notable presence of sexual violence within the experiences of the children/young person.
The researchers will be presenting their study on 1st March 2019 at the SVDV’s Sexual and Domestic Abuse in the Lives of Children and Young People Conference
The full report is available on this link.