History Main / TheTrapParents

Not to be confused with ''Film/{{The Parent Trap|1961}}''.

* In a GoldenAge ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic, the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin uncreatively named]] "Bruce Wayne Loses the Guardianship of Dick Grayson", Dick Grayson's uncle and aunt appear to claim custody of him, which a court grants. It turns out to be a con, with the pair willing to waive their custodial rights in exchange for a hefty bribe from Bruce Wayne. For obvious reasons, [[PapaWolf Bruce]] was enraged and it didn't take long for Batman to get involved.

* In the ''Creator/IonTelevision'' show ''Doc'', the titular country doctor is trying to adopt an orphaned boy named Raul, whose mother he unsuccessfully tried to save. Then the boy's father, Hector Gonzales, turns up. He suggests that he might decide that Raul would be better off with Doc if the "rich doctor" gives him some help with bills. Doc counterattacks with a sting: with Doc and his FriendOnTheForce, Officer Nate, watching, two con artists tell Hector that Doc buys drugs from them, and if Hector wants to extort Doc, they want a piece of the action to make up for any money they won't be getting. Hector agrees and admits to Officer Nate after being confronted that he doesn't really care about a child who was born after he'd already moved on. In exchange for not being arrested for extortion, he leaves New York and gives up his claim on Raul.

* In a GoldenAge ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic, the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin uncreatively named]] "Bruce Wayne Loses the Guardianship of Dick Grayson", Dick Grayson's uncle and aunt appear to claim custody of him, which a court grants. It turns out to be a con with them willing to waive their custodial rights in exchange for a hefty bribe from Bruce Wayne. For obvious reasons, [[PapaWolf Bruce]] was enraged and it didn't take long for Batman to get involved.

* ''Film/StuartLittle'': Stuart's real parents reclaim him, but they're actually impostors and it's part of a plot to separate him from his new family. They eventually start to feel regret about what they did and admit the whole deception to Stuart.

* 1985’s ''Film/{{Daryl}}'' uses an interesting subversion of the troupe. Dr. Jeffrey Stewart and Dr. Ellen Lamb are the title character’s creators (technically his parents) but they believe he should be free to live with his “adopted” family.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', Tobias's "cousin" appears in town hoping to adopt him. Said cousin is actually a morphed [[BigBad Visser Three]], who found a letter written by Tobias's real father ([[spoiler:Elfangor in human morph]]), discovered that Tobias had apparently vanished off the face of the Earth, and made the connection that Tobias may have had connections to the "Andalite bandits". Fortunately, Tobias discovers the facade before the adoption takes place.
** The adoption was never actually going to happen. He discovered the ruse before the reading of Elfangor's letter so he was able to suppress any emotion that would have given him away to Visser Three.
* In ''Literature/EscapeToWitchMountain'', a man appears at the orphanage claiming to be Tony and Tia's uncle. He's actually there to capture them and their supernatural abilities. In the Creator/{{Disney}} film, he appears [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished after Tia saves his life]].
* In ''Silvertooth'', the third book from the Dutch childrens book series ''Literature/AlfieTheWerewolf'', a man claiming to be Alfie's uncle shows up at the house of Alfie's foster family to adopt him, complete with court order to back up his claim. In reality, he's a werewolf hunter who wants to sell Alfie to a mad scientist, and the court order is a forgery. Alfie's grandfather realizes the deception when he's told about the 'uncle', and leads the family in a mission to rescue Alfie from the hunter.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', "Child's Play": Former Borg Kid, Icheb, is returned to his actual birth parents. Then, it turns out they bioengineered him as a genetic superweapon to destroy the Borg and send him to die. Again. Voyager saves him.

* In ''Series/JustShootMe'', a couple claims to be Nina's real parents. Maya later learns that they are con artists and warns Nina through the elevator intercom. Nina doesn't believe it until she sees them attempting an ElevatorEscape.

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': This happens to Omi, the only member of the team without a family, in the episode "Omi Town". The Heylin's plans to get rid of him is to create a fake family (Jack Spicer's robots morphed into Omi look-alikes with Hannibal's Moby Morpher) that keeps him secluded. At the end of the episode, his friends remind him that [[TrueCompanions he does have a family]].

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian'', the King supposedly returns, much to Fang's delight. She figures out the ruse when he [[BerserkButton calls her a monkey]] and Fang realizes it's Chuckles the Silly Piggy in disguise.
[[/folder]]

* An interesting subversion of this trope occurs in ''Film/SecondhandLions'', in that one of TheTrapParents is Walter Coleman's actual mother.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/Madeline Madeline: Lost in Paris]]'': Madeline, who is an orphan in this movie's continuity, is adopted by her [[LongLostRelative long-lost Uncle Horst]], who takes her away from her Miss Clavel and her friends at the boarding school to live with him in Vienna. He's not related to Madeline at all, but is the stooge for the BigBad, the owner of a lace sweatshop who imprisons Madeline and other orphaned girls to make lace. Madeline is rescued by the other girls and Miss Clavel, her TrueCompanions and "real" family.

* This is what kicks off the plot of ''Film/SesameStreetPresentsFollowThatBird''. The Feathered Friends believe that Big Bird is miserable because he is without a family, and send Miss Finch to offer him a home with a family of Dodos. Big Bird accepts, but finds his adoptive family to be not what he imagined; they're [[TheDitz quite stubborn]], [[TheBore unimaginative]], and worst of all, [[FantasticRacism racist towards non-birds]]; when they refuse to let Snuffy come over for a visit, Big Bird views it as the last straw and runs away.