Ben Bradshaw has seen the brightest sides of Astoria and the darkest.

As a foster parent of two teenage boys, he calls the community a welcoming and safe place, a city of 10,000 that feels more like a bucolic village of 500 friends. But as a victim service coordinator for the Clatsop County District Attorneys Office, hes confronted daily by its unseemly underbelly and big-city problems.

Bradshaw provides support and information to the countys crime victims, a job that taps into the 33-year-olds comforting nature and his general knack for empathy. But its also provided the new Astoria resident an opportunity to see what goes on beyond the proverbial white picket fences.

It was surprising how much crime we had here, he says. That actually surprised me from the get-go because its a smaller community. There was a time when we were seeing a new sex abuse case once a week. Domestic violence everyday. And this is not an exaggeration, but we talk about drugs to the kids everyday to the point where they laugh at us.

Bradshaw and his partner, Chris Right, moved to Astoria two years ago. The two were looking for an exit from Portland, where Bradshaw worked fielding calls for Oregon Health & Science University Medical Groups legal desk. They wanted to raise kids, and the city didnt strike them as the right environment for that.

So they turned to Astoria, which seemed like a natural fit, the right community to buy a home and start a life. There were lingering reservations about how theyd be accepted as a gay couple looking to raise kids, but those soon went away. They were welcomed by the community, Bradshaw says.

Experiencing Astoria has also been something of a boyhood dream for Bradshaw.

He used to point at the screen while watching The Goonies with his mom and say, I want to live there. And now he does. She still laughs about it because thats what we did, Bradshaw says, chuckling at how clichéd it sounds.

Despite the daily reminders of the crimes that take place in Clatsop County, Bradshaw says he embraces both his work life as an advocate and personal life as a dad.

The two kids in his life make every day busy and fulfilling. Every day, it seems, the kids want to go fishing. Its just nice to have kids who very much want to hang out with their dads, he says.

Its moments like those when the white picket fences dont seem far away at all.

He makes sure the kids know exactly the type of work he does, which often involves consoling the victims of sexual or physical abuse, and they regularly visit the office. He says he doesnt want to hide the world from them.

Since moving to Astoria, Bradshaw and his partner have settled into a picture of family life only a few shades removed from Norman Rockwell. Thats the way he likes it.

Were actually pretty conservative, he says. Were all about our family and being involved in the community. I love being a victim advocate. I get to work with a lot of interesting people during difficult times in their lives.

Tyler Graf