AIM: To analyse the social situation of parents who have a child with cerebral palsy (CP).

METHOD: This was a population-based longitudinal study with linkage to public registries. Parents of children with CP (n=3671) identified in the Danish CP Registry were compared with 17 983 parents of children without CP. Employment, income, cohabitation status, and presence of additional children were factors analysed during a follow-up period of 28 years. We followed parents from before their child was born and up to the age of 43 years of the child.

RESULTS: Mothers of children with CP under the age of 10 were less often employed: odds ratio [OR] of employment at age 5y 0.45 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.36-0.57), but only 11% left the labour market. Mothers of children without CP had higher incomes: ratio full-time working 1.11 (95% CI 1.07-1.15). The risk of not living together was not increased among parents of children with CP: at age 5 years OR 1.04 (95% CI 0.84-1.28). Parents of children with CP as the first born postponed or more seldom had subsequent children: hazard ratio [HR] 0.75 (95% CI 0.68-0.83).

INTERPRETATION: The Danish welfare system seems to have succeeded in keeping parents in the labour market and living together with their child. Special attention needs to be paid to the financial situation of families with children with CP under 10 years of age.