Abstract
It is curious that while the term ‘granny’ has often been used as a catchy synonym for ‘older people’ in research that investigates elder abuse, very little research has ever actually explored the specific dynamic of violence against grandparents. The chapter begins with an overview of existing research on the problem, before discussing how it is marginalised from both ‘elder abuse’ and ‘domestic abuse’ policy discourse. Introducing the life course approach, this chapter then explains why it is essential to conceptualise violence against grandparents within a critical developmental framework which takes account of intersecting dimensions of power. This chapter then explores two specific contexts that are important in understanding the experience, management and response to violence against grandparents: (i) when the grandchild is 17 years or younger, and (ii) when the relationship involves kinship care.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
For example, see McManus et al. (2017) on the problematic application of the DASH risk assessment tool in cases of family violence, including violence towards grandparents, where many of the risk indicators are not used by police because they are felt to be irrelevant to such contexts.
- 3.
For example, in cases that involve a child who is behaving violently towards an adult family member with whom they share the same household and who has parental responsibility towards them.
- 4.
Indeed, the term ‘domestic violence’ (which preceded the more contemporary term ‘domestic abuse’) first emerged in the 1970s in recognition of men’s physical aggression against women. Debate continues as to whether its more recent broadening out is appropriate for other kinds of abusive relationships (e.g. see Kelly and Westmarland 2014) including those that involve children’s use of violence (e.g. see Holt 2016).
- 5.
For example, see Hunter and Piper’s (2012) discussion on the use of injunctions in cases where the perpetrator is legally a child, which the authors argue cannot be used because the needs of the child, and the potential harm produce by the injunction, must take priority in judicial considerations.
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Holt, A. (2019). Violence Against Grandparents: Towards a Life Course Approach. In: Bows, H. (eds) Violence Against Older Women, Volume I. Palgrave Studies in Victims and Victimology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16601-4_9
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