A report, Childhood Challenging Violent and Aggressive Behaviour (CCVAB), by Northumbria Police, CEL&T and Northumbria University has been commissioned following a heartbreaking case of domestic homicide in which a mother was killed by her son after years of intervention by the police and social care.
According to the report, Northumbria Police responded to 515 incidents, but violent and aggressive behaviour by children within homes remains a hidden issue, especially in families with children with special needs, adopted children and kinship carers. They suggest that the involvement of social workers was ineffectual or that they didn't respond to the parents and carers in desperate need of their help, noting that police ‘[a]re not social workers'.
Each call represented a family in crisis with a child whose behaviour was a danger to his environment, carers, parents and other children. Not all families who called for help lived with this level of desperation, but they were living with a high level of adversity. The resource implications for social work to respond to CCCVAB should not be underestimated – this is a safeguarding issue.
Children may behave violently or aggressively due to:
- the intersection of biology, experience and systems;
- struggles to regulate and control their behaviour;
- reactive or proactive aggression to control their environment and those in it.
Affected families share some common features:
- isolation
- victim-blaming
- lack of response
- ineffective response from services – many feel disbelieved, blamed and misunderstood.
This results in many families becoming unwilling to seek support until they’ve no other options. What’s more, nobody wants to be accused of being unable to control their child.
Social care’s response remains uncertain. Professionals who could intervene early face a set of complex problems, because children who are inherently vulnerable can behave in a way that draws other children and adults into the equation. The courses offered for parents may further their feelings of isolation and alienation as adults who care for children with specific needs in extraordinary circumstances.
In conclusion, families and parents do need more consideration and safeguarding, and social care should be more supportive of families by giving them accurate information and offering more effective solutions.
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