News

Image
Green NSPCC Learning Logo

Why language matters: how ‘toxic trio’ is unhelpful and inaccurate

The term ‘toxic trio’ is used by some professionals to refer to the co-occurrence of parental domestic abuse, parental substance misuse and parental mental illness in a child’s life. To some, the presence of this ‘trio’ signals that a child may be experiencing abuse or neglect.

But is this really the case?

5 January 2024