The New York Times has a letter to the editor in 2019 that defines "parachute parents" as those who "always want their children to have a soft landing. They’re the parents who always take their children’s side when an offense occurs and believe that their children should never have to pay any consequences for their behavior". But your definition sounds perfectly plausible to me too.

I haven't seen the phrase in German, but that doesn't mean much.

Hmmm ... meine Suchmaschine findet keine Ergebnisse für "Fallschirmmutter" ... die alternativ angebotenen Ergebnisse sind bis auf einen Sensationsunfallbericht und eine T-Shirt-Werbung sämtlichst "adult only" ...

Perhaps another expression is interesting in this context:

“Parachute kids,” or unaccompanied minors, are youngsters who are sent to study and live in a new country while their parents remain in their home country:

A child of wealthy East Asian parents who is left in the United States to attend school while his or her parents live abroad.

https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/parachute_kid

Mir kommt die Erklärung des Ausdrucks in #0 zu kompliziert vor und ich halte auch aus dem Grund die von Raudona mit 2 nummerierte Bedeutung für wahrscheinlicher. (Ich habe den Ausdruck noch nie gesehen.)

Yes, I guess it was wishful thinking on my part that the term might represent the deprived single mums who can't afford to micro-manage their kids' lives! It was only speculation on my part and I think you are right: it's a German term for "helicopter parents. Many thanks!

In the NYT it was a subcategory of helicopter parents, the ones who took things too far - the letter was a response to an article about how one shouldn't dismiss the positive results of parents being actively interested in their children's education etc.