Young people’s relationships with one another are dynamic, not static. This is true in the context of romantic and sexual relationships as well as in the context of friendships and peer relationships.
The label used to describe a relationship is less important than the quality of the relationship and how safe it is.
The boundary between domestic abuse and extra familial harm can be blurred and unclear both to professionals and to the young people involved.
Power imbalances between one young person and another or one young person and a peer group can be heightened on the basis of:
- trauma history
- sex
- gender
- ethnicity
- age
- class or family wealth
- disability
- immigration status
- level of spoken or written English
These imbalances can provide a context in which exploitation or abuse is more likely to occur and/or to go unreported.
Young people who harm others in an extra-familial context may be harming others in an intimate partner context, or an intrafamilial or intergenerational context.
Young people who harm others in an intimate partner context or an intrafamilial or intergenerational context, may be harming others in an extra-familial context.
Young people who are being harmed by others in an extra-familial context may be being harmed in an intimate partner context, or an intrafamilial or intergenerational context.
Young people who are being harmed by others in an intimate partner context, or an intrafamilial or intergenerational context may be being harmed in an extra-familial context.
Young people can be harming others and be harmed by others at the same time.
Young people being harmed or harming others in an extra familial context need to be considered in terms of any risks they may experience or pose to others in a domestic abuse context.
Young people being harmed or harming others through domestic abuse need to be considered in terms of any risks they may experience or pose to others in an extra familial context.
Adults, particularly those with additional needs or complexities, can also be vulnerable to exploitation and harm outside the home. This extra-familial harm may be part of the domestic abuse they’re experiencing or separate from the domestic abuse they’re experiencing. DAIS and other agencies in partnership with Adult Safeguarding colleagues are to follow a joined-up whole-system approach for any adult at risk of or experiencing exploitation.
We have an extra familial risk and domestic abuse protocol (google doc) to help agencies identify and respond to young people experiencing domestic abuse and/or harm outside the home.