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	Risky Living Arrangements By Wayne Laugesen National Catholic Register January 16, 2008 http://ncregister.com/site/article/7781 Denver — The problem of sexual abuse of children has reached near-epidemic proportions, but the culture has yet to confront its most common causes. Most people have heard about the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. They also hear about the children who get abducted by strangers or get lured by Internet perverts. And occasionally, newspapers will run a story about a teenage boy having sex with a beautiful 20-something teacher. They seldom hear of the biggest threat of childhood sexual abuse: cohabitation and the single mom's boyfriend. . . . David Finkelhor, director of the university of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center, has found that children living in broken homes or with single parents are at a higher risk of physical and sexual assault than children living with two biological or adoptive parents. "Certainly, a lot of men come into a home with good intentions and provide a good male role model for children," Kraizer said. "But the single woman with a child is the perfect opportunity for an abuser. She provides a victim and a place." Kraizer, who's quick to admonish past Church officials who covered up abuse by clergy, said the media's obsession with clergy abuse of children reached absurd proportions. She said it has caused more fear of men in the collar than of live-in boyfriends. "With the help of the media, we've developed a fear factor toward clergy that is overblown," Kraizer said, adding that fear of stranger abuse is also overblown. "In the mid-'80s through about 1995, there was a lot of awareness about the true nature of child sex abuse," Kraizer said. "People were aware that strangers weren't the big issue. In the last 10 years, however, things changed. The high publicity crimes became the agenda, and the issues have become completely distorted. My experience is that new parents have no understanding of what the real threats are." Though a recent series by the Associated Press showed an epidemic-like phenomenon of sexual abuse in public schools throughout the country, Kraizer said few people have developed a fear of teachers. Nor, she said, should they. Posted by Terry McKiernan at 8:56 AM
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