Child to parent abuse is more widespread than you might assume and if a parent discloses a problem, it is highly likely they will do so to their child’s school. Michelle John explains how we might handle such disclosures


Sadly, being alert to the potential signs of abuse is something school staff know about all-too-well. But what about when it’s the child themselves who is displaying abusive behaviour towards their parental figure?

This is known as child to parent abuse (CPA) and it’s more widespread than you may think.

CPA often goes unrecorded and unreported, and we have barely scratched the surface when it comes to researching and understanding this type of behaviour.

The research which has been done identifies that it is likely to affect at least 3% of households – that would mean there are more than 800,000 families in the UK dealing with the impact of this type of abuse (Baker & Bonnick, 2021).

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