History Main / NoBloodTies

* IsaacAsimov's Robot Novel ''The Naked Sun''. On the planet Solaria, children are raised by robots (overseen by a man or two) and have no contact with their parents. In "Robots of Dawn", the chidren on Aurora are '''mostly''' raised by professional educators, and it is highly unusual (though not impossible) for a person to raise or even know his children. One of the main characters tried that and it didn't end well.

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* In ''{{Gargoyles}}'', gargoyle children are raised communally by the adults of their "clan." Although blood ties exist, gargoyles do not distinguish (and usually don't even know the difference) between their own biological offspring and other children of the clan. When Elisa notes that Angela is clearly Goliath's daughter, he responds that she belongs to the entire family unit. Angela was raised by humans, however, and adopted many human values, so when she finds out that Goliath and Demona are her genetic parents, she expresses greater emotional attachment to them than to the other members of the former Clan Wyvern. Goliath, trying to resist the corruption of his traditional gargoyle values, intentionally avoids showing too much affection for Angela so that he doesn't appear to be showing favoritism toward his genetic offspring, until it's pointed out that she's the only child on his and Elisa's "world tour", and the youngest member of Clan Manhattan. (Demona, meanwhile, has her own psychotic obsession with Angela that doesn't really mesh well with Human or Gargoyle values.)

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** And in ''Foundation and Earth'' we see what has become of the Solarians. It's not pleasant. The main characters rescue a Solarian child from [[spoiler:being killed because there aren't any recently-dead adults for her to replace]]. Still, at least Solaria is still inhabited by something close to humans, unlike [[spoiler:Aurora and Melpomene]]. The Aesop seems to be that [[ImmortalityImmorality short-lived]] people who [[WeWillUseManualLabourInTheFuture rely on manual labour]] are better than long-lived people who use robots. Which sits rather oddly with [[spoiler:R. Daneel Olivaw]] being (albeit secretly) one of the crucial heroes of the Foundation series.

* Aldous Huxley's novel ''BraveNewWorld''. Babies are cloned, decanted and raised in Hatcheries and Conditioning Centres. Probably an inspiration for the ''Paranoia'' example.

* The Clans in Battletech use artificial insemination coupled with gene manipulation to create as-perfect-as-possible warriors. It's become so much of a tradition that freeborn has become ''the rudest insult they use''.
** ''Freebirth'' is an insult. 'Freeborn'' can be insulting, but generally is just a statement of fact.

A universe in which parents are not expected to raise their own offspring. As a consequence, few people value, or even acknowledge, parent/child relationships.

On the other end of the scale, this can be a major symptom of the {{Dystopia}} - especially if babies are raised from birth by machines, the military, corrupt Government puppets or in a factory-farm type environment. In this case, the decline of blood ties is related to the dehumanisation of the population, and they become little more than machines/weapons of war/brainwashed {{Mooks}}.

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* In ''TheGiver'', babies are produced by women whose job title was [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Birthmother]] (though the matter of how exactly these babies are conceived is never addressed) but raised in 'family units' composed of a man and a woman ([[ArrangedMarriage matched up by the Elders]]), and one male and one female child.

* In ''TheStand'', community children started using "-Mom" as a sort of honorific, since they usually had multiple mother figures. (Kate-Mom, Nadine-Mom, etc.)

* Aldous Huxley's novel ''BraveNewWorld''. Babies are cloned, decanted and raised in Hatcheries and Conditioning Centres. Probably an inspiration for the ''Paranoia'' example.

* Theodora from the ''Ivory'' trilogy by Doris Egan was raised in a creche because the Pyrenese aren't into parenting too much.

* In ''{{K-Pax}}'', prot (lower-case on purpose) says that children on his planet are raised by society as a whole, passing from family to family over the course of their childhood.

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-->'''Aeryn''': Only once I was exposed to it.

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*** It's really pretty complex.

* On ''InvaderZim,'' Irkens are grown in jars and enter training immediately after "birth." They nevertheless seem to have familial feelings, since Zim considers the "cold, unfeeling robot arm" that activated him as his parent.

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* Your villagers under BlackAndWhite. Because of game mechanics, there's usually only one or two "breeders" in the village. The game, fortunately, didn't program in the problems with inbreeding.

* Asimov also has a story about a race of StarfishAliens who are not just detached from their children - they are terribly disturbed by the thought of humans having blood ties.

* The Race from Harry Turtledove's World War series work like this as a matter of necessity due to the fact that they have a mating season and lay eggs communally, so that not even the mothers know who their children are. An exception is made for the imperial family, as no females except the emperor's harem are allowed within his presence during the mating season to ensure that all his children can be accounted for.

* The Peacekeepers in {{Farscape}}. Children born into the military (like Aeryn) are trained from infancy to be soldiers and to follow orders without question. Reproduction is assigned and parents have no role in raising their children. Even an attempt to contact one's child is punished severely, [[spoiler:as shown with Aeryn's mom.]]

* ''Logan'sRun'' is like this with one of the main characters becoming severely annoyed that his friend even cares to wonder who his parents were.

* In RobertAHeinlein's Hazel blows her stack at the thought of a child being raised outside the family, in a creche, when there is polygamous family where the child could be raised. Possibly justified by the fact that is exactly how she was raised giving her ample grounds to consider it less than ideal. Also the social conditions on Luna seem to have changed considerably in the decades between ''The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress'' and ''The Rolling Stones'' with a general shift from the exotic polygamous systems (caused by the drastic sexual imbalance) to a more conventional nuclear family.

* In the film KPax (as well as the FilmOfTheBook), prot (lower-case on purpose) says that children on his planet are raised by society as a whole, passing from family to family over the course of their childhood.

In this universe, you are not expected to raise your own offspring. As a consequence, few people value, or even acknowledge, parent/child relationships.

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* In ''{{Paranoia}}'', [[strike: mutant children are popped out of clone tanks and raised communally.]] Junior Citizens are perfectly created via the generous wisdom of Friend Computer, and raised ''collectively'' to the heartfelt benefit of all Alpha Complex.

* IsaacAsimov's Robot Novel ''The Naked Sun''. On the planet Solaria, children are raised by professional educators and have little or no contact with their parents.

In this set up, loyalty to a society or community will probably be stressed over [[ThickerThanWater familial ties]]. The kids might not even know, or care, who their biological parents are. If they do, their relationship is one of polite deference or vague gratitude ("Thanks for making me exist"). There may be [[ParentalSubstitute surrogates]] in the form of "foster parents", but this is usually a creche-like setup where the foster carer has more children to tend to than is realistic, and not much time to give each individual child. It's no surprise then, that these caretakers don't tend to inspire much affection or loyalty (although they're almost certainly closer to the kids than their biological parents). Often, their role is basically to make sure the kid doesn't die while getting them to fend for themselves as much as possible.