Child violence service seeing increased referrals

The service has received referrals from schools, social services and police when families have experienced issues

A programme set up during the Covid pandemic to tackle abusive and violent behaviour from young people towards their parents is continuing to see referrals.

The Adolescent to Parent Violence and Conflict RJ Service was set up by Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott after the first lockdown in July 2020.

Mr Scott said the programme for children aged 10-18 offered a "second chance" for young people.

Referrals to the service had continued to rise despite the end of lockdown, said Jacqueline McHugh, who runs the scheme.

Speaking to BBC Radio Kent, Ms McHugh, head of the restorative justice service in Kent, said some families did not want to report what was going on and often felt "a certain amount of shame" having to do so.

But she said they had not seen a reduction in referrals since the end of lockdown. "If anything, we've seen an increase," she said.

Mr Scott thinks the number of referrals to the service post-lockdown is "of concern"

Mr Scott thinks the impact of lockdown could have contributed to violent behaviour in the home, because young people might have been "more exposed" to abuse.

He said "normalised" patterns of violent and abusive behaviour were often a generational issue.

"I'm sure a lot of people would not want to see children as young as ten or eleven being criminalised for behaviour that they may have been a victim of themselves," Mr Scott said.

"That's why this intervention is really important. To give them a second chance later on in life," he added.

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