Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look and an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging

truth.

With the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

About 15 years ago, sociologist coined the term abusive boyfriend syndrome, to describe

the increased risk faced by children who live in homes with an unrelated adult.

According to numerous studies, these children are much more likely to be abused or even

killed than children who live in home with two biological or married parents.

Because of these findings, domestic violence prevention programs often teach parents, especially

vulnerable women, that the single highest risk factor that they or their children will

be abused is whether they're living with an unrelated, unmarried adult.

Seagot design family in a specific way.

The biological reality that a man and a woman are required to make a child points to a social

reality that children do best with a mom and a dad.

This neither makes abuse inevitable for children and other arrangements, nor does it suggest

that biological parents never abuse.

In fact, tragically, child abuse can become epidemic within certain cultures and certain

families.

Statistics reveal trends, and the statistics here unanimously reveal that the safest and

the healthiest home situation for children is with their married mom and dad.

In fact, in the case of step families or adoptive parents, in which one or more parent is

not biologically related to the child, the risk of abuse lowers dramatically if mom and

dad are married to each other.

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