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Drawing on data collected as part of a qualitative study on parent abuse, this article explores how child to parent violence is constructed by professionals working within the three related domains of youth justice, domestic violence and child protection. The article, a discussion piece, charts the continuities and contradictions contained within practitioners' understandings of this form of family violence, focusing on how the problem emerges, the causal explanations employed and their impact on practice responses.

In a recent article in this journal Paul Michael Garrett presents an ill-informed, selective and distorted view of our work on Intensive Family Support Projects (IFSPs) which provide specialist and intensive support to families at risk of eviction. In constructing a critique of IFSPs Garrett draws extensively on interim study findings mistakenly concluding that we are `docile' researchers lacking in critical reflexivity. In this response, we first challenge the way in which he crudely constructs IFSPs as state disciplinary mechanisms reflecting a lack of a nuanced understanding of the multiplicity of ways in which the `conduct of conduct' is performed. Secondly, we explore his use of a `disciplining gaze' to undermine the validity of both the study findings and our role as independent researchers. Finally, reflecting some of the contradictions inherent in the formation of women as gendered welfare subjects we strongly refute the allegation that our approach was gender blind and outline the various ways in which lone parent women resisted being constructed as the `anti-social other'.

There is an extensive body of literature on the ways in which the family home is often a site of conflict and discord rather than security and safety. Much of this work has focussed on the problem of domestic violence perpetrated by adults and how the state should respond to it (Home Office, 2009). Another form of family violence however, that of the abuse of parents (or those occupying a parental role) by their adolescent children, has not received such public (or academic) recognition (Hunteret al., 2010). In the UK, the issue of parent abuse remains one of the most unacknowledged and under-researched form of family violence.

The following list provides a brief overview of relevant publications on parent abuse, together with links to some useful websites. Given the nature of parent abuse the publications come from a varied disciplinary background ranging from the therapeutic to social policy and criminological. Some look at the nature and incidence of parent abuse, some examine the experience and causes of it, while others suggest therapeutic interventions. See further the discussion by Holt, this volume.

In the UK, the issue of parent abuse remains an unacknowledged and under-researched form of family violence receiving little recognition within social policy and professional practice. This may in part be due to the way it transgresses conventional notions of family power relations in which children are seen as potential victims but not as perpetrators. In this paper, we develop a framework for analysing the complexity of family power relations and explore how these may inform the context in which parent abuse and victimisation occurs. This may help to inform constructive policy and practice responses to this issue.

Addressing anti-social behaviour (ASB) has been a major policy priority of New Labour since it came to power in 1997. This is reflected in a series of legislative powers enabling a range of agencies to take legal action to tackle ASB (e.g. Crime and Disorder Act 1998; Police Reform Act 2002; Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003; Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005) and in a number of national policy initiatives (e.g. the Home Office 'Together' Campaign, 2003; the Respect Action Plan, 2006; the Youth Task Force Action Plan, 2007). These developments are the subject of a growing body of academic analysis and critique, much of which has focused on the use of the ASB powers in the regulation of particular neighbourhoods and communities, especially social housing areas of predominantly White working-class residents (Burney, 2005; Flint, 2006), and of young people, again mostly White and working class (Squires and Stephen, 2005). Specific service or practice developments arising out of ASB policy have also been analysed, for example, Family Intervention Projects (Nixon et al., 2006, 2008), Anti-Social Behaviour Teams (Prior et al., 2006), and the use of ASBOs (Squires, 2006; Matthews et al., 2007) and Dispersal Orders (Crawford and Lister, 2007).

Discourses on anti-social behaviour in the UK are embedded within a wider politics of conduct based around concepts of citizenship, self-regulation, welfare conditionality, obligations to communities and rights and responsibilities. This paper explores how the regulation of behaviour is framed within ideas of community and contractual governance and identifies the central role for housing within strategies aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour and promoting civility. It discusses the use of Anti-social Behaviour Orders in governing conduct within a wider package of regulatory mechanisms including Acceptable Behaviour Contracts and tenancy agreements. An increasing focus on governing the interactions between neighbours is identified along with techniques to achieve this, including the growing use of conditionality in welfare entitlement. The paper argues that the regulation of conduct is symbolic of significant realignments of the roles of various actors in policing residential areas and raises fundamental questions about the link between conduct, citizenship rights and the scope and ambition of governance interventions aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour at individual and community levels.

This report presents the findings of the 2013 National Assessment Program – Civics and Citizenship (NAP – CC) and is conducted under the auspices of the Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood (SCSEEC) Education Council. Under the National Assessment Program, the Civics and Citizenship sample assessment is administered to a representative sample of Year 6 and Year 10 students on a triennial cycle. After three rounds of assessments – which were undertaken in 2004, 2007 and 2010 – this report looks at the 2013 assessment and examines emerging trends. The National Assessment Program – Civics and Citizenship measures not only students' skills, knowledge and understandings of Australia's system of government and civic life but also student attitudes, values and participation in civic-related activities at school and in the community. NAP – CC is the first NAP sample assessment to be trialled and delivered to students online. This is a significant milestone for national assessment in Australia and the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).