How Parentification and Adultification Bias Affect Child Abuse Investigations Involving Teens

There are many myths and stereotypes about how, when, and why children disclose abuse and the behaviors they will display when they present in our process. When our community, team and jury members are asked to describe a “typical” child abuse victim, they often imagine a young, naïve child who understands that what is happening to them is wrong and expresses discontent or anger towards their alleged perpetrator. While it is possible that a child abuse victim may display these attributes, the identities of child abuse victims, their process of disclosure and how they cope and/or accommodate to the experience of on-going abuse may be much different. This is particularly true for child abuse victims that have been cast into adult roles, display “adult-like” behavior, have been parentified or are the target of adultification bias. While our child advocacy centers and multidisciplinary processes are “child-centric,” they aren’t always designed with the parentified child in mind. This training will examine practice when working with parentified youth, youth displaying “adult like behavior” and/or youth that are the target of adultification bias.