A leading campaigner has spoken of her delight at the inclusion of Child to Parent Abuse within a newly-published document relating to the Domestic Abuse Act.

Shortly after launching PEGS, Michelle John was asked to support the Home Office as they prepared the statutory guidance which is linked to the 2021 Act and highlights best practice to organisations such as police forces, local authorities, schools and domestic abuse services.

This guidance was published on Friday (8^th July) – marking the first time that Child to Parent Abuse has been included in a Home Office document of this kind.

Michelle explains: “CPA has remained largely under-reported and under-recorded, meaning there’s a real lack of knowledge and understanding compared to intimate partner domestic abuse. That’s why it was so important to have CPA included in this document, which highlight best practice to organisations across England and Wales.

“Myself and the PEGS team are particularly thrilled to see the inclusion of a recommendation around the development of advocacy roles to support parents, carers and guardians – for example, during social care meetings. This is something that we have been offering for the last couple of years, so having this role officially recognised and encouraged as part of these documents is great news.

“This is a real step forward for the many thousands of parents experiencing Child to Parent Abuse – which is estimated to affect at least 3% of UK households.”

The document states CPA can involve children of all ages, including adult children. While there is no specific legal definition of CPA, it is ‘generally accepted to involve some of the patterns of behaviour that can be found in other relationship contexts’.

These can include humiliation, belittling language, violence and threats, jealous and controlling behaviours, damage to property, stealing and heightened sexualised behaviours.

It continues: “Like other forms of abuse, child-to-parent abuse is characterised by shame and stigma which could mean parents are less likely to report the abuse to the police. Parents may fear being blamed, disbelieved, or conversely having their child taken away from them or criminalised leaving them reluctant to seek help.

“Recorded incidents likely represent only a small number of real cases as families facing crisis point make the difficult decision to disclose their abuse. Victims of this type of abuse should also receive appropriate domestic abuse response and support.”

The document recommends professionals ‘recognise the dynamics, impact and risk’ when responding to CPA – including commissioning specialised local CPA services or embedding trained staff as part of a multi-agency referral system. It adds that the Home Office intends to publish updated CPA guidance later this year.

Click here to read the full document.