Page 53 - SEN115 - November/December 2021

Child/parent abuse
Responding when parents are being abused by their child: a guide to CPA
Michelle John discusses the unacknowledged issues surrounding child to parent abuse, and how schools can help.
More and more parents are reaching out to their child’s school to disclose abusive or violent behaviours happening at home.
In fact, 89% of parents, carers and guardians report that they’ve disclosed their experiences to their child’s school [PEGS parental survey, Spring 2021].
Research into Child to Parent Abuse is in its infancy compared to the extensive studies which have been conducted on other types of abuse – but currently the experts estimate between 3% and 10% of households are impacted.
And yet, there’s no obligation for schools to be trained in responding to CPA – and there are no standard policies in place across the education sector to ensure staff have adequate knowledge and resources.
It’s the same for GPs, police forces, social care teams and any of the other professionals a parent might reach out to – which helps explain why the majority of parents report feeling helpless, hopeless, and largely unsupported.
What is CPA?
Child to Parent Abuse can take many forms, with the most widely reported being physical or verbal abuse. Whether it’s hitting, kicking, strangling or coercion, control and threats, the
“The impact is profound and siblings and pets are also likely to be targeted”
impact is profound and siblings and pets are also likely to be targeted by violence.
Other behaviours include financial abuse (stealing, forcing parents to pay for items or taking out credit cards in their name), sexual abuse, and online abuse (such as spreading rumours).
Of those parents who were employed before the behaviours began, the majority report needing to reduce their hours at work or leave their job completely as a direct result of CPA.
As with other types of domestic abuse, there’s often a misconception that abuse is always male to female (in this case a son towards their mother – or equivalent female within their family). While this may be the most common, around a third of
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