Children at higher risk in nontraditional homes

The federal effort encourages single parents to at least consider marriage. Other programs focus on broadening the support network for single parents. Many social workers say the emphasis should be on nurturing healthy relationships, whether or not the parent is married.

“The primary thing is to have adults around who care about these kids, whatever shape it takes,'' said Zeinab Chahine, who was a New York City child-protection specialist for 22 years.

Chahine, now with Casey Family Programs, said caseworkers need to learn as much as possible, in a nonconfrontational manner, about the personal dynamics in at-risk households. Is an unmarried partner spending time there? Does that person care about the children, or deem them a nuisance?

In the real world, however, learning crucial details about potentially fragile families isn't easy.

“The field struggles with the balance between intrusion in private matters and awareness of significant risks to the child," said Fred Wulczyn of the University of Chicago's Chapin Hall Center for Children. “With a social worker who's in the house on a once-a-month basis, how good do we expect our diagnostics to be?''

The sensitivity of probing into private lives is among many problems underlying the lack of definitive data correlating abuse with parents' marital status and household makeup.

Another problem is inconsistency in the state abuse reports provided to federal agencies. Differing definitions of "household'' and varying efforts to ascertain marital status result in a statistical “hodgepodge,'' according to Elliott Smith, who oversees a national archive of child-abuse research at Cornell University.

Child-welfare specialists hope the statistical gaps will be filled next year by a comprehensive federal survey, the National Incidence Study.

Social changes needed
The previous version of the study, released in 1996, concluded that children of single parents had a 77 percent greater risk of being harmed by physical abuse than children living with both parents. The new version will delve deeper into specifics of family structure and cohabitation, according to project director Andrea Sedlak.

Long term, many child-welfare advocates say social changes are needed, so day-care options improve and young men in poor communities have job prospects that make marriage seem more feasible.

“These boyfriends increasingly have been raised without fathers and been abused themselves,'' said Patrick Fagan, a family-policy specialist with the conservative Family Research Council.

Oscar Jimenez Jr., the San Jose, Calif., boy found buried under cement and fertilizer, did have a biological father who was devoted to him. But the father, Oscar Sr., separated from Oscar Jr.'s mother in 2002 and was prevented from seeing his son in the weeks before the boy's death in February, allegedly from a beating by the mother's  live-in boyfriend, ex-convict Samuel Corona.

Kathyrn Jimenez, says she, like her son, was abused by Corona, yet she has pleaded guilty to assisting him — driving with him from San Jose to Phoenix to hide her son's remains, then keeping quiet about the killing for months.

She was in custody when Oscar Jr.'s funeral took place Sept. 29. She didn't hear the plea of a longtime family friend.

“Listen carefully,'' Olessia Silva told mourners. “To all the mothers in this world who may find themselves in a difficult situation or harmful relationship: know that there is always, always someone willing to help if you would just reach out.''

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