When Parents of Children with Special Needs Divorce (Special Needs Alliance: Special Needs Require Special Lawyers.‪)‬

Few people question the commonly reported statistic that half of marriages in America end in divorce. Reports vary, however, about whether parents of a special needs child face even higher divorce rates. People react differently to the numerous challenges and expenses, such as life-long therapy, that a child's disability condition may bring to a marriage. While the situation may bring the parents closer together, many special needs organizations report that it is more likely to cause excess strain in the marital relationship. The Wall Street Journal reported in November 2008 on recent research suggesting that divorce rates of couples raising a child with a disability are even higher than the national average. Some non-profit organizations have reported divorce rates as high as 75 to 85 percent for this population. Other reports have claimed these percentages are overestimated. Indeed, a recent study by Vanderbilt University's Kennedy Center actually found divorce rates of parents who have a child with Down syndrome to be 33 percent lower than in marriages where the parents do not have a child with a disability. Compare that, however, to the 2008 study by the University of Buffalo cited by the Wall Street Journal which reported that parents of a child with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are nearly twice as likely to divorce before the child reaches 8 years old as a couple with a child without a disability.