One in five children suffer ‘toxic trio’ problem at home

NEARLY one in five children live in households where a parent or carer suffers one of the “toxic trio” of domestic abuse, mental ill health or drug addiction, a study has found.

The Office for National Statistics research showed that such children were not only more likely to be victims of crime and violence but more likely to be bullied than those in more stable homes. The figures follow calls by Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner, for hard data to understand the extent of the difficulties faced by children in households where one or more of the adults suffering from the “toxic trio”.

The ONS data, which was based on the British household crime survey, showed that 751,000 (19.3 per cent) children aged between 10 to 15 were living in households where an adult reported experiencing one or more of long-term mental ill health, domestic abuse or substance misuse in the previous 12 months. Children in such homes were 60 per cent more likely to have been the victims of crime: 16.7 per cent for those

in homes where mental ill health was an issue compared with 10.8 per cent where it wasn’t an issue and 16.1 per cent versus 10.7 per cent for whether domestic abuse was an issue. They were twice as likely to be the victims of violent crime, (11.6 per cent compared with 5.4 per cent) for those living with an adult suffering mental ill health versus for more stable homes, with 9.6 per cent versus 5.4 per cent for domestic abuse issues.

Around one third of children from households with mental ill health or domestic abuse had been bullied in the last year (32.4 per cent and 29.5 per cent respectively), compared with under one fifth of children living in households without mental ill health (18.1 per cent) or domestic abuse (18.1 per cent).

Ms Longfield said: “These statistics reinforce how millions of children are facing a cocktail of risks at home and the awful impact this can have on their lives. These problems cascade down through the generations and they are likely to be exacerbated by the Covid crisis.

“Tackling them will require investment in the Troubled Families Programme, f amily hubs to provide parental support, and a national, joined up early years system that identifies those vulnerable children most at risk and provides them with the help they need.”