This week I celebrate one year of this blog.
When I first became aware of the issue of parent abuse, in the early 80s, we had no idea of what to suggest to help the parent who had approached us. By the time I engaged in some serious research, in 2004-6, there was a small but growing body of knowledge about this aspect of family violence, and a number of programmes had been developed, mostly in Australia, New Zealand and the USA and Canada. A year later, a discussion on parent abuse was one of the items in the BBC’s Woman’s Hour, a flagship radio programme, which goes out 6 days a week.
I have been really excited to see how knowledge and resources have developed over the last year, particularly in Britain, but also across the world. Research based on clinical practice has been published. New academic research projects have sought to quantify and to realise a framework for understanding. Evidence has formed a basis for the development of parent support programmes and practical materials, and is used in lobbying for changes in the law and funding. Increasingly, teaching about parent abuse is becoming part of the social care landscape. The first academic book on parent abuse in Britain is due to be published in November 2012. But helplines continue to report an increase in calls from parents, whether through a genuine increase in abuse or improved access to support we might never know; and so the work continues.
Teenage aggression towards parents is clearly not confined to one part of the population, or one region of the world, as witnessed by news reports, websites and even videos on YouTube. Over the last year I have been privileged to have contacted, and been contacted by, practitioners from many countries and I have been thrilled to be able to contribute in a small way to furthering knowledge and understanding. If you have found this blog helpful, please share it with others; and if you can spare a moment to comment, or even to send your own contributions for posting, that would be great.
Here’s to the next year!
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Lily Anderson, Step-Up Program
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Lynette Robinson
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