Parent abuse – lack of support for victims

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDOct 18 2010

According to new Flinders University research parents who suffer abuse and neglect by their children need more support. The report found that almost half the victims interviewed were unable to get support.

According to the researcher and legal studies lecturer Mary McKenna, child abuse was well studied and understood but there was little public recognition of abuse of parents and so there are no dedicated services to care for these victims.

She said, “Programs that might actually involve professionals that would actually offer the parents strategies for actually dealing with behavior of the young person and help for the young person, things like counseling…It's a very shameful thing for parents to actually have to acknowledge that their child or adolescent is behaving violently and abusively because when they do come out and speak about it, they're held responsible and blamed for the behavior themselves.”

The report said that mothers are most commonly the victims of violent children. These children may harm parents, pets and siblings and even attempting suicide.