1) Somewhere in the teacher training process the taboo is broken down regarding contact with students.
2) There is a concerted attempt to develop mistrust between institutions (education and the Catholic church) and the public.
I am a retired teacher and one of the biggest fears my peers and I had was the use of false allegations, by students, to "get back" at a teacher.
On the other side of the coin, there were several teachers that never left school and were living their lives vicariously through the students. I always felt that the lines were blurred for them regarding appropriate behavior towards students.
I was on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters for a while. Great organization but it is getting hard to find people who want to mentor these kids out of fear the kid will do something as you say. Actually had one case before I was involved where a guy was falsely accused but was cleared but he was never the same thereafter..He ended up having to move away.
Scouts are the same way. Scout leaders can no longer be alone with a child.
Shame we are heading this way.