SAFE! Support for Young People Affected by Crime

Who we are

SAFE! works to relieve the distress and suffering of children and young people aged between 8 and 25, who have been harmed by crime or bullying. We work across the Thames Valley where we have a team of professional project workers with backgrounds in social work, counselling, probation or education who offer one-to-one support sessions to young people. The service we offer empowers young people to begin to feel safe again, recover their confidence and develop resilience so that they can thrive and return to a happy childhood, adolescence and young adulthood.

Alongside our 1-to-1 support we also run our Building Respectful Families programme – addressing Child on Parent Violence which is an issue many families are facing.

What is Child on Parent Violence?

CVP is any behaviour used by a young person to control, dominate or coerce parents.  It is intended to threaten and intimidate and puts family safety at risk.  Whilst it is normal for adolescents to demonstrate healthy anger, conflict and frustration and to test boundaries, during their transition from childhood to adulthood, anger should not be confused with violence.  Violence is about a range of behaviours including non-physical acts aimed at achieving on going control over another person by instilling fear. 

Most abused parents have difficulty admitting even to themselves that their child is abusive. They feel ashamed, disappointed and humiliated and blame themselves for the situation, which has led to this imbalance of power.  There is also an element of denial where parents convince themselves that their son or daughter’s behaviour is part of normal adolescent conduct. 

Building Respectful Families has a clear process of referral and assessment for the family, part of which is that the referring agency remain involved and maintain support with the family. Key factors in attending the programme are that families are motivated to change the current situation, seeking to find their own solutions and move to a more respectful way of interacting with each other.  Building Respectful Families is a solution based, family focused, brief intervention rather than a parenting or anger management programme.