Rick Hood, Professor of Social Work at Kingston University, on why the ‘toxic trio’ should be removed from the social work lexicon.
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Child safeguarding has been shaped by the notion that three risk factors in families (domestic violence, parental mental health problems or substance misuse) cluster together as a ‘toxic trio’ that indicate potential maltreatment of children. Applying ideas of ‘toxicity’ to families is very problematic and potentially stigmatising. In addition, the concept is not evidence-based, which is confirmed in a study conducted by Rick Hood and colleagues.
In this episode I talk to Rick about this study, which analysed a large dataset of episodes of social work involvement with children in six local authorities. This analysis does not support the idea of a ‘toxic trio’, but instead provides some valuable insights for practitioners about the complexity of factors that bring children to the attention of social workers.
Rick Hood is Professor of Social Work at Kingston University in London. His main research interests are the application of systems thinking to social care, particularly in services for children and families. His book Complexity in Social Work was published by Sage in 2018.
The full text of the paper we discuss can be accessed here:
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