Have the child set $dbh->{InactiveDestroy} = 1; and then undef the $dbh. That should keep it from disconnecting the parent's connection. After that, you'll just have to fix the END block so it doesn't try to call disconnect on an undefined value. 

END {
  $dbh->disconnect if $dbh;
}

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I wrote about this and more in DBI, fork, and clone..

In reply to Re^3: Preventing database handles from going stale by kyle
in thread Preventing database handles from going stale by dsheroh

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