Report finds two-year pilot to help vulnerable young people and families a success

Norfolk marks CAPVA Awareness Day by launching findings from an independent evaluation of its Child and Adolescent to Parent Violence and Abuse (CAPVA) pilot.

Child and Adolescent to Parent Violence and Abuse (CAPVA) refers to any harmful behaviour displayed by a child towards a parent or caregiver. Abusive behaviour can include physical violence, emotional, economical, or sexual abuse and coercive control.

Funded by the Home Office’s Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Intervention Fund, the initial two-year pilot provided specialist support to families affected by child to parent abuse from April 2023 to March 2025.  Funding has now been extended to March 2026.

The evaluation was led by Associate Professor Dr Vicki McDermott-Thompson from the UEA’s School of Psychology and explored how the programme was delivered, how families and children engaged with it, and what impact it had. It also identified areas for improvement and future sustainability. A second phase of evaluation is underway following the programme being extended to March 2026.

The pilot was delivered through the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCCN) via a multi-agency approach involving the Norfolk Youth Justice Service, Norfolk County Council’s Children’s Services, Norfolk Constabulary, Norfolk Integrated Domestic Abuse Services (NIDAS), Brave Futures and Cup-O-T: Wellness and Therapy Services.

To date, over 100 families and children have been supported across the three years and more than 80 professionals trained to be Respect Young People’s Programme (RYPP) practitioners.

The Respect Young People’s Programme (RYPP) is voluntary, and both the young person and their parent/guardian must consent to take part and be willing to engage. The programme avoids blame and works together with both the parents/carers and young person, seeing them all as part of the solution. The programme is designed to enable families to identify negative behaviour patterns and work towards positive outcomes.

Delivered over three or more months with both child and parent engagement, the programme focusses on improving family relationships through structured, creative sessions using evidence-based approaches.

Key findings

Dr Vicki McDermott-Thompson’s key findings revealed that the most common form of abuse was verbal aggression with 53% of families reporting physical violence.

The report also found that CAPVA affected children of all genders, it was not just exclusive to males. Many of the children involved had poor mental health or neurodevelopmental conditions and mothers, the primary carers, were most often the victims.

Personal accounts have highlighted benefits of Norfolk’s CAPVA pilot. 

“The relationship between the child and his parents also greatly improved and he was no longer going missing or getting angry and aggressive with them.” 

A practitioner survey response

Parents and young people reported developing strategies for coping/managing their emotions and enhanced self-awareness: 

“I’ve done work with [social work practitioner] around my emotions and what I can do when I feel angry or frustrated.” 

Young Person 

Parents themselves described developing conflict resolution skills which helped them to recognise, respond to and resolve conflict and practitioners described many parents to demonstrate improved parenting skills and confidence following participation in the intervention:

“I have felt particularly that it has empowered and equipped me to feel confident in putting boundaries in place and not blaming myself for my child's difficulties, which has improved my wellbeing and made it a lot easier to cope with her heightened times” Parent

“This has helped mum build on her confidence...she was trapped in a situation where the young person was in control and dictating what she had to do whereas now she is the parent and setting boundaries etc.” 

A practitioner

The report also highlighted the challenges that remain, including gaps in access and support. Before accessing CAPVA support, families often felt dismissed by schools, police or mental health services. And once part of the programme, the completion rate was only 22-39%, showing engagement barriers still persist.

While awareness of CAPVA is growing, understanding remains limited in professional and public spheres. The report recommended that further research is needed to address structural barriers and improve access. 

The continued application of the learning identified through this evaluation will be progressed with multi-agency partnership boards. This is essential to ensure partners can recognise the impact and outcomes which can be achieved through this programme, supporting children in a trauma informed manner to flourish in the home.

Mark Stokes, Chief Executive of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk and Chair of the Norfolk Community Safety Partnership, said: “These findings from the UEA show this work has a very powerful and positive effect on families involved with the CAPVA programme, with a reduction in the need to involve the police and other services in interventions.  Partnership working has been key to the success of this pilot and I am very keen that this work should continue.”

For more information, please visit: Help for vulnerable young people