*Jane, 51, has six children. They range from a seven-year-old, who is autistic, to the two eldest, a girl of 14 and a boy of 19. Five years ago, the 19-year-old began to be extremely verbally and physically aggressive towards his mother. “Periodically, he punches me. He has stolen money from me. He’s grabbed me round the neck. He’s held a knife to me and said, ‘I’d like to end you’. He calls me ‘scum’, none of it normal in our family.”
Over the past year, the 14-year-old has begun copying her brother after their mother threatened to inform the police when she started engaging in potentially criminal behaviour. “She said she doesn’t trust me any more.” The girl refuses to have counselling or see social workers while Jane, who is on antidepressants, feels so threatened that she retreats to her bedroom to avoid the attacks.
