Child to Parent Abuse and safeguarding on the agenda at Breaking the Silence conference

An upcoming Child to Parent Abuse conference aims to break the silence around this often-hidden form of abuse and its associated safeguarding risks.

The one-day event, organised by social enterprise PEGS, will bring together experts from across various sectors and organisations to discuss the issues faced by the estimated 10% of UK families experiencing CPA.

Breaking the Silence will be the fourth annual conference for PEGS, with the previous three being virtual events. This time, the conference will be held in-person at Shrewsbury Town Football Club on Tuesday 14^th October, which is also the annual Child to Parent Abuse Awareness Day launched by PEGS back in 2022.

Founder Michelle John said: “We want to highlight that professionals such as social workers, police, teachers, doctors and any others who may come into contact with families as part of their role need to consider safeguarding holistically. All too often, we hear from parents and carers that their concerns are dismissed or minimised because their child is not at risk.

“Yet when we look at the potential risk to the parents or caregivers who are experiencing behaviours such as physical, verbal, financial, digital and even sexual abuse from their child, it’s clear that safeguarding should be flagged as an issue in that household. We also know a large proportion of children (including adult children) displaying CPA behaviours towards a parental figure will also target siblings and even pets.

“Through the conference, and our other ongoing work, we want to ensure that all of this is taken into account when an organisation like the police, local authority or school considers safeguarding factors within a household – not just whether one person is at risk, but whether anyone in that house is, and whether there are factors such as health or care needs which would exacerbate the level of risk.”

Speakers on the day will include Fiona Wells (Founder of PATCH – a campaign aimed at supporting adoptive families), Billy Cragg-Hughes (Child to Parent Abuse Service Lead for Warrington Borough Council) and Annelli Peavot (Head of Safeguarding at Canterbury Christ Church University).

There will be a number of workshops on offer – such as those led by Dewis Choice (an organisation focused on the impact of domestic abuse towards older people), and Jordan Alexander (whose area of expertise is spiritual and ritual abuse).

To sign up for early bird offers and register your interest ahead of ticket sales going live, simply visit www.pegsevents.co.uk.