Children of divorced parents with ethnic minority background

The number of divorces in ethnic minority families has risen in recent years. Children with an ethnic minority background see their parents split up almost as often as their Danish peers. However, children with an ethnic minority background encounter special challenges. This is shown in this survey focusing on families from non-Western countries. The families are often characterised by dramatic divorces and this makes subsequent parent cooperation difficult. Compared with Danish children of divorced parents, these children generally have less time with their father and they more often live with their mother. More than half these children grow up in poverty (OECD poverty line). Furthermore, far more of these children than Danish-ethnic children have mothers outside the labour market who are receiving social cash benefits or early retirement pensions. This survey indicates that some form of divorce culture is missing in ethnic environments, since the parents are often rooted in a society not traditionally prone to divorce. This means it can be difficult to shape a role as a divorced parent: What should you say to the children? How do you arrange a custody scheme which works well for the children? How do you cooperate as divorced parents? The results of the report are based on qualitative interviews with more than 80 children, parents and specialists as well as quantitative data. This survey was financed with support from the Egmont Foundation and was carried out in cooperation with the children's organisation Børns Vilkår.