Tim Tebow & The Safest Man in a Child’s Life
What Tebow got wrong, what the data says, and why it matters for children’s rights.
You know I (Katy) love it when someone with a platform speaks up for vulnerable children. So when Tim Tebow, former NFL quarterback turned child-advocate, joined The Shawn Ryan Show to talk about his anti-trafficking work and the Renewed Hope Act, I was ready to cheer.
Tim’s heart is in the right place. He’s working to expose the horrors of abuse and to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves. But one clip from the interview sparked backlash for all the wrong reasons. Here’s what he said:
“White men are the number one perpetrators of unwanted abuse in homes and biological fathers are the number one perpetrators of unwanted abuse in homes.”
That raised red flags for child advocates who’ve been living in the data trenches. One of them was Megan Basham, a reporter at The Daily Wire, who replied:
“White men are the biggest child abusers??? Um I’ve always liked Tim Tebow but what is this? Imagine saying this about any other race. And as a rate of incidence within populations it’s NOT true.
According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data system, American Indians and Alaskan native children have the highest incidence rate of child abuse. The second highest is African-Americans. I don’t know where Tebow is getting his information.”
To his credit, Tim responded directly:
“Hey Mrs. Megan, thanks so much for bringing this up. I really appreciate conversations like this — protecting & safeguarding kids is one of the most important things we should be talking about. The report you’re referencing focuses on victims of all forms of child abuse. What we were discussing on the Shawn Ryan Show was much more specific — people producing and distributing child sexual abuse material online. That’s one of the evils we’re working hard to fight.
Child abuse and exploitation is a complex, layered problem with many different factors. The demographics can shift depending on the specific part of the issue you’re looking at. We’re focused on one very specific piece — just one part of a much larger, heartbreaking picture.
According to a 2023 report from the United States Sentencing Commission regarding Child Sexual Abuse Material distributors and possessors, 77.1% were White, 12.8% were Hispanic, 5.8% were Black, and 4.3% other. In a 2021 United States Sentencing Commission report regarding Child Sexual Abuse Material producers, 75.2% were White.
Additionally, based on a 2023 and 2024 transparency report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Victim Identification Program, of unique images submitted by law enforcement in identified series, where the relationship between the victim and the offender was known to law enforcement, Fathers were the highest category of offender.
Specifically, we’re trying to shed light on images showing children being actually sexually abused by another person. This data doesn’t represent the entire universe of exploited material online — the victim identification data we are discussing is specific to producers.
There’s still so much that I’m trying to learn. We don’t have all the answers, but we’re working to share what we’ve seen in this fight and bring light to some very dark places. At the end of the day, I believe we’re on the same team — we both want to protect children. That’s our heart behind everything we do: to safeguard as many kids as possible and never stop fighting for those who need us most — for their good and His glory.”
Megan responded again, gracious and direct:
“So since @TimTebow graciously responded, I want to do likewise and start by saying, first, how grateful I am for his ministry to stop child sex trafficking and see the Renewed Hope Act passed. I have always admired his ministry and his witness.
That said, I still see a problem with Tebow's claims here. It appears he's only considering raw data and not per capita analysis, which doesn't tell us much as whites are the largest demo in the U.S...
Ultimately, a lot of us are just getting really tired of the demonization of white men as a class of people. And wittingly or no, this clip seems to do that as demonstrated by the fact that prominent racial division peddlers have already seized on it and are circulating it to paint whites as uniquely evil in this area.”
Yes, Megan. And more importantly, children are at risk when we get this wrong.
Biological dads who are married to their children’s moms are the safest adults in a child’s life.
That’s not opinion. That’s what the data says.
The 2003 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study found that biological fathers are the least likely to abuse their children. The greatest threat comes from non-biological men, especially unrelated males in the home — like boyfriends and stepfathers.
Tim’s statement, that “where the relationship between the victim and the offender was known to law enforcement, fathers were the highest category of offender”, gives the impression that a child’s own father is the most dangerous person in their life.
That is misleading.
Let’s look at the actual source Tim cited: Federal Sentencing of Child Pornography: Production Offenses (October 2021), page 30. It differentiates biological fathers from stepparents, legal guardians, and unrelated men. Of known victimizers, it reports:
Biological Parent: 18.2%
Stepparent/Guardian/Parent’s Partner: 14.2%
That does not mean that 18.2% of biological dads abuse children. It means that among known abuse cases, 18.2% were committed by a biological father, a number that reflects how many more children live with their dads than with unrelated men.
About 64.6% of kids live with their biological dads, either in two-parent homes (60%) or with their dad only (4%).
Only about 5% of children live in step-families at any given time, most with a stepfather. Some also live with mom’s boyfriend, but that data is harder to track.
Once you adjust for population differences, the picture becomes clear: Children living with an unrelated male adult are over 900% more likely to be sexually abused than children living with their biological father.
You read that right. Over ten times more likely to be abused.
That confirms what we’ve seen for decades: when you remove a child’s own mom and dad from the picture and insert an unrelated adult, abuse skyrockets.
Of course, any parent, biological or not, who harms a child must be held fully accountable. But we do children no favors when we misrepresent where the real statistical threats lie.
So here’s the truth that needs to be shouted from every rooftop: A child’s own married mom and dad is the safest structure for any child. And that’s exactly why every child has a right to it.