Parent abuse is a hidden yet prevalent problem which presents a number of challenges to practitioners who work on the frontline in the fields of social care, criminal justice, education and health. Current practice struggles to meet these challenges and, as a consequence, families continue to be at risk. With the recent publication of the Munro Review (Munro, 2011), this chapter explores the extent to which it might enable better service responses for such vulnerable families. The chapter begins by outlining the defining characteristics of adolescent-to-parent abuse and explores why it presents distinct challenges to frontline practitioners who may nevertheless have considerable experience of working with other forms of family violence. In particular, this chapter discusses the tools that are currently available to practitioners who work in policing, youth justice, social care, education and health when faced with cases of parent abuse, and why such tools are inappropriate as a response. The chapter concludes by assessing how the key themes for change underpinning Munro's recommendations might enable the development of more appropriate statutory responses to parent abuse and highlights areas which require more fundamental consideration.

Adolescent-to-parent abuse: a challenge to frontline services

Parent abuse has not yet achieved the status of ‘social problem’ which other forms of family abuse have, such as child abuse, intimate partner violence (IPV) and elder abuse. Nevertheless, it shares a number of important features. It is characterised by a persistent pattern of behaviour which uses physical, emotional or economic means to practise power and exert control over a parent, and it may involve shouting and screaming, blackmail, threats, demands and insults, and/or physical violence.