Child to Parent Violence and Abuse: A Practitioner's Guide to Working with Families

Written by Helen Bonnick, Published October 2019

⚠️ Language update. As of April 2022, Adopt4Life is now using Aggression toward Family and Caregivers in Childhood & Adolescence (AFCCA) as a way to talk about this important topic. Learn more here.

Description:

Child to Parent Violence and Abuse (CPVA), where a child or young person uses verbal, physical, psychological or financial means to gain power or control over a parent or carer, is a much misunderstood problem that affects the lives of millions of families around the world. Despite this, and the lasting damage it can cause, CPVA is an underreported issue, and one that presents a serious challenge to practitioners and support services -- not least because it inverts our normal understanding of abuse within the family. In this book Helen Bonnick shares the knowledge that she has built up over many years specialising in CPVA as a social worker, practice educator and researcher. Following an introductory chapter, the book is divided into five sections that develop an understanding of key issues before moving on to a more structured approach to supporting families. Illustrated throughout with real-life anecdotes, testimony and advice from those who have faced CPVA, Child to Parent Violence and Abuse brings this complex issue out of the shadows and provides much needed guidance to practitioners.

• Presents a broad understanding of the key issues involved in CPVA for all those working with troubled families, as well as students currently undergoing training

• Explores an issue of threatening and/or violent behaviour in the home that affects millions of parents, yet remains poorly understood by practitioners in the field

• Proceeds from definitions, prevalence and impact to specific suggestions for responses and proven models for intervention (e.g. ‘Step-Up’, ‘Who’s in Charge’)

• Each chapter is illustrated with real life anecdotes and testimony of families who have given permission for their voices to be included