dominican families of today

Horrible numbers, 37%!!

Makes me very sad to think of all the children.

Rattus_Rattus said:

Horrible numbers, 37%!!

Makes me very sad to think of all the children.

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not to mention the children of these children

41% with both parents, 37% with no parent, that would mean only 4% of the children live with one parent, right? Somehow it doesn't sound accurate. Maybe they are talking specifically about the ones using drugs? Or maybe they are counting the ones living with the abuelos but where one of the parents is also in the house?

A good (too many) number of my relatives send their children to live with other relatives so they can go to different supposedly better schools. The idea of sending the children to a better school is good, but it is sad that so many are not living with their own parents. I think that accounts for some (but not all) of the 37% with no parent factor. I'm sure there are many worse reasons to account for the majority of the 37%.

"Hijos De Crianza"(Children raised by relatives) is not a bad thing!
In many cases, it's a really good thing!
Kids from broken, fractured,destitute,violent,etc.,circumstances, have a chance to live in a loving, nurturing home.
It's a really "Dominican Thing", but here, IT Can WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I would say there's a very high percentage of kids who do not live with both parents, but I think the statistic of 37% not living with EITHER of them is too high. Like anything else this is not an easy number to put just one reason behind or to understand why some of these kids end up living with just one or without either parent. Example:
- 10% or more of Dominicans live outside the country. Most of those have left their kids with the other parent or with other family while they can get their papers in order and petition for them to join them.
- Many guys have multiple kids with multiple women. Some of these guys are actually decent fathers, they just don't live with the woman they had the kid with.
- There's a high incidence of teen pregnancy and of course being a "catholic" country what's a girl to do once she's pregnant? Have the baby of course. The kid or adult who got her pregnant has probably split by then or is one of those mentioned above, so she and the baby end up living with the grandparents.

I also know several kids that as mentioned above have been sent by their parents to live with some close relatives so they can go to better schools, etc...typically this if they live in a somewhat remote area.

CC: You're correct that this is not necessarily a bad thing. There may be many kids living without their biological parents, but you'd hardly find any kid just living on the street (Except maybe in Santo Domingo and similar places) without some kind of father figure and this is all due to this custom.

I think it accounts for a small percentage of it but in my family (and in some others I know) they have sent their kids to relatives for better schools. I don't know if the schools really are better or not but the perception from many is that some schools in StoDgo and Santiago are way better than any of the schools in Sosua. This is their alternative if they can't afford private schools. Usually the parent(s) will just send a little money to the relatives for the care of the children while they are there. It seems they usually do this around the 5th school year to start, though I've seen some do it as soon as 1st and as late as the 9th.

dv8 said:

i know quite a few of those 37%... and it does not seem too high... kids are routinely left with relatives, usually grandparents. father is unknown or does not care, mother goes away to make a living. if the kid is lucky it sees mom at weekends and holidays. if she is abroad/far she may visit seldom or even never (overstayed a visa in USA/europe, cannot go back). sometimes mom enters a new relationship and her new man does not want to rise someone else's kids.

i have not seen kids being left with relatives because of the schooling situation. university students? yes, they often go to live in a bigger city, with some relatives but i have not seen that with small children.

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That's a really sad picture.