History ParentalAbandonment / WesternAnimation

** in the original, Teela knows she's adopted, but not her parents identity; Duncan claims her father was a "great warrior" (the only time he is mentioned, and that her mother's identity is a secret he's sworn to keep, promising her she'll learn it someday, but not from him. she does, and her mother tells her that she is also her heir, but can only keep the knowledge until ready to claim that birthright. (He-Man learns the secret and remains a confidant, but the issue is not addressed again.)
** In the remake, Teela is also her heir, but believes Duncan is her true father and that her mother is dead. Duncan is ''not'' as accepting of this, scolding the Sorceress for failing to be a proper mother. Unfortunately, the revelation of the power within her only proves the Sorceress has a valid point, as she mishandles it. A later episode shows flashbacks of the past, including Teela's father, a wounded amnesiac soldier. It is hinted that Duncan may well be her biological father, but it is also hinted later that it may be Duncan's brother, Fisto. In any case, the series ended before this could be explored more.

** Aang, like all Airbender children, was raised communally by monks. However his father-like mentor, his unknown parents and the rest of his nation were [[DoomedHometown entirely wiped]] out while Aang was [[HumanPopsicle frozen in an iceberg]]. Hence the subtitle of the show. Katara and Sokka's mother was killed when they were young and as of the beginning of the show their father has left to fight in the war. They live with their grandmother who rather blithely sends them off to travel the world with Aang (though [[spoiler: it is later revealed that she ran away from home herself, which perhaps explains her attitude]]). Toph deliberately runs away from her overprotective parents. This trope even applies to Appa.
** The villains have it no better. Zuko and Azula's mother [[MissingMom Princess Ursa]] is absent (to say the least) and their [[BigBad father]], [[AbusiveParents definitely not the overprotective type]], seems to have no problem with sending the kid he actually ''likes'' halfway across the known world to hunt his enemies. [[TheUnfavorite Zuko]] was banished on a SnipeHunt (after being publicly disfigured and humiliated) for [[DisproportionateRetribution speaking out of turn]] when he was no older than fourteen. Mai's parents are seen briefly but seemingly have no interest or no say in her actions (possibly due to Azula's influence, though in "The Beach" Mai says that her mom repressed her a lot to not ruin Dad's high-profile political career) and Ty Lee's apparently did not notice when she ran away to join the circus, due to the 6 identical daughters.

** Played with for the main character who didn't live with her parents because once discovered as the Avatar, she was forced by the Order of the White Lotus to be cooped up and safely trained. But she did get to see her alive and well parents every now and then.
** Mako and Bolin lost their parents to a firebender in a mugging, and Asami lost her mother to a firebender during a raid... this didn't go over well with [[StartOfDarkness her father]], [[spoiler:who is now dead to her.]]
** Kuvira and Bataar Jr. from Books 3 and 4. Unlike most of the examples above, in which the parent died or left [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou for the sake of their child]], Kuvira's parents flat out [[AbusiveParents didn't want her]] and kicked her out when she was 8, resulting in her finding her way into the Beifong household. Predictably, this pretty much shaped her actions [[spoiler: as the final BigBad, seeing her nation being abandoned just like she was]]. Bataar Jr. was also kicked out after aligning himself with Kuvira, but despite his betrayal he [[EvenEvilHasStandards refuses to lose Opal to Kuvira's giant laser.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BuBumLaStradaVersoCasa'': the main character, Bu-Bum, is seperated from his parents in the first episode due to an air attack on the truck that was transporting them. They don't get reunited untill the end of the series.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDavincibles'': Pablo and Zoë Davinci live with their uncle Leo, who is apparently also their legal guardian. No mention is ever made of their parents.

* Very few characters in ''WesternAnimation/AllHailKingJulien'' appear to have parents, presumably as a result of predators. Of the parents mentioned, King Julien's parents left him to pursue a life of luxury and were assumed dead, and Maurice's parents abandoned him as a baby due to their traditions, and were killed by fossa sometime before the present day, Hector's mom was taken into human captivity when he was a baby, and Pancho is a ManchurienAgent unable to remember if he even had a family.

* Very few characters in ''WesternAnimation/AllHailKingJulien'' appear to have parents, presumably as a result of predators. Of the parents mentioned, King Julien's parents left him to pursue a life of luxury and were assumed dead, and Maurice's parents abandoned him as a baby due to their traditions, and were killed by fossa sometime before the present day.

** After four seasons we have also yet to see Fluttershy's parents at all, even in flashbacks (which focus on her time at flight camp) and they have never been mentioned.

* Used excessively and in a variety of ways in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', [[JustifiedTrope due to the fact that war is raging.]] Aang, like all Airbender children, was raised communally by monks. However his father-like mentor, his unknown parents and the rest of his nation were [[DoomedHometown entirely wiped]] out while Aang was [[HumanPopsicle frozen in an iceberg]]. Hence the subtitle of the show. Katara and Sokka's mother was killed when they were young and as of the beginning of the show their father has left to fight in the war. They live with their grandmother who rather blithely sends them off to travel the world with Aang (though [[spoiler: it is later revealed that she ran away from home herself, which perhaps explains her attitude]]). Toph deliberately runs away from her overprotective parents. This trope even applies to Appa.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has this tradition continue.

* [[TheHero Finn]] [[SpeciesSurname the Human]] from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' was left in a forest as a baby.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'', their parents are sometimes mentioned but never seen, and they seem to take no real interest in the sometimes outrageous lives of their children. (In fact, the only who's ever mentioned with any regularity is Beavis' mother, who is said to be a slut; we find out in the film ''Beavis and Butt-Head Do America'' that the boys are the bastard sons of two heavy-metal roadies, and possibly half-brothers (Mike Judge refers to the two as their "dads", however).
** Could be the dads are brothers, or half-brothers, making the guys cousins.

* Gadget from ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' lost her father a year before the team was formed. Due to lack of information, many fan theories exist about what actually happened. Her mother is never mentioned.
** May be explained at some point in the [[Comicbook/ChipNDaleRescueRangers current comics]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': Tom, along with Princess Katherine, The Magus, Tom's mother, Mary, & Finella, fled from the castle of King Kenneth II when he was slain by Constantine, who later usurped his throne. After using the Grimorum to find a way into Avalon, The Magus is forced to give up the magical book because it can't be taken into Avalon. To keep it away from Constantine, so he won't be able to find them, Finella volunteers to protect the book and go into hiding from the King of Scotland. Mary volunteers to go with, deciding that protecting this magic book is more important than raising her only child, who at this point in the story wasn't even ten years old.

* Jade from ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' is left by her parents in the first episode, and although they are alive, they are only referred to twice during the rest of the series. Jackie as well, it is implied, was sent to America to train with Uncle when he was a kid. His parents are never mentioned.

* Subversion: The teen hero team The Ultimen in ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' is initially presented with a variety of ParentalAbandonment issues; by the end of their first appearance, it's revealed that this is actually because they are clones with FakeMemories implanted.

* Adam Lyon of ''WesternAnimation/MyGymPartnersAMonkey'' seems to have parents, but they don't seem to object to him attending middle school with the animal kingdom.
** They explained why in one episode but [[TheUnintelligible we couldn't understand them]] (They have fur allergies and were in containment suits at the time).

* In ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'', the entire main cast is made up of 14-year-olds, and the show is one of the awkward cases in which nobody even mentions their parents. The closest we ever get is an aunt. And considering how many times they brush death, it's amazing they're allowed out of the house at all. (In fact, the only brothers we see freely admit to hatching out of eggs, leading to much speculation about how exactly the cast are born.)

* In the animated ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', the Titans are conspicuously independent, lacking even {{mentor}} {{superhero}}es (* cough* Franchise/{{Batman}} * cough* ). However, many of their parents are actually accounted for: Robin's origin, although it is never covered in any detail, is hinted at in one episode and would dictate that his parents are dead. It also comes up a couple times in season four: [[spoiler: Raven's mother appears briefly in one episode, and her father is a demonic overlord named Trigon (also evidently dead by the end of the season). It is also implied that Cyborg's parents and Beast Boy's parents have passed on, as well.]]

** [[AllThereInTheManual The comic book]], ComicBook/TeenTitansGo, explained that they fell ill after their son (and Star and Black's brother), Wildfire, was sent off the planet and never recovered from it.
* The ''ScoobyDoo'' gang members either have no parents or just very hands-off parents who don't seem to care that their teenagers go all around the world, hunting down villains in Halloween costumes. Subverted in the 'Mystery Inc.' series.

* The titular bunnies from ''WesternAnimation/YinYangYo'' have Master Yo the panda as their sensei and father figure, but so far their parents have not been mentioned... though some of their friends (and enemies) have parents ("CAAAAAAARL!").
** [[spoiler: It Was Later Revealed That Master Yo ''IS'' Yin and Yang's Father.]]

* ''FanboyAndChumChum'' have the same living situation.
* InspectorGadget's niece Penny. He seems to be her only relative, although the backstory is pretty non-existent for her.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'': Huey and Riley's parents are never seen or mentioned, and it is not known how they came to live with Granddad. It's pretty heavily implied that they're dead.
** Partially a case of AllThereInTheManual, or at least in the Comics. Their parents are dead, and in the first episode Granddad mentions spending their inheritance on that house (explaining in part why they were able to move to suburbia, hence, the boondocks).

* The title characters of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' are missing a [[DisappearedDad biological dad]] and a [[MissingMom biological mom]], respectively. However, their remaining parents are HappilyMarried to each other and have HappilyAdopted their stepchildren, so any issues with this are confined to FanFic.

* In MaxAndRuby, Ruby and Max's parents are never mentioned. They do have a grandmother. Possibly the only character with a parent that's seen in-show is baby Huffington, whose dad runs a shop in town.

* {{Daria}} Morgendorffer's home life is made more interesting due to her needy self-obsessed father - a man who lives in his own unhappy childhood and still has issues to resolve - and her workaholic mother who places job before family for the greater part of the time. This is one of the factors that shaped the Princess of Snark's alienation and mordant cynicism.

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Soos' dad left him when he was very young and never visited, only sending postcards. His grandmother reassures him that he'll visit someday, but in some (Spanish) lines she says to herself, it's clear she thinks the father is a terrible person. As for his mother, we never see her.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' Jasper's criticism of Amethyst being overcooked indicates her abandonment at the kindergarten was intentional. Though this DEFINENTLY wasn't the first time Amethyst had to experience this, as Rose hung out with her less when Greg came into her life, and Pearl and Garnet began to treat her as worthless when Rose left.

** Aja and Shana never refer to their biological parents. They were the Benton's foster children.

* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', Skippy lives with his aunt with no mention of a mother or father. Years later, in an interview with ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'', Slappy's VA Sherri Stoner claimed, in-character, that Skippy's parents dumped him on Slappy shortly after he was born, then left on a "sabbatical". Played straight however in ''Film/Wakko's Wish where the Yakko, Wakko and Dot are portrayed as orphans, and it's implied that [[BigBad King Salazar]] murdered their parents when he seized power. [[spoiler:It would actually make sense for him to have killed their parents as they were the real King and Queen.]]

* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', Skippy lives with his aunt with no mention of a mother or father. Years later, in an interview with ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'', Slappy's VA Sherri Stoner claimed, in-character, that Skippy's parents dumped him on Slappy shortly after he was born, then left on a "sabbatical".

* Neither Fee nor Foo from ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBeaks'' apparently have guardians. They're [[WildChild feral kids]] who live by themselves and no one bats an eye.

* ''WesternAnimation/ObanStarRacers'': Eva saw her mother die in an accident when she was five, and was subsequently put in a school by her depressive father. When she finds him ten years later, he doesn't recognize her and has apparently grown into a [[StayInTheKitchen misogynistic]] JerkAss [[WellDoneSonGuy who repeatedly dismisses her]]. Then again, [[JustifiedTrope the plot revolves around their issues.]]

** That is nothing compared to the home life of Jane Lane. There is a reason why there was a trope that was once called CasaLaneParenting.

* Lance from ''SymBionicTitan''. His father [[spoiler: supposedly]] died when he was very young, and he presumably had a MissingMom, because custody was more or less given to the king and Modula, who sent him off to a military boarding school.

* ''TheBoondocks'': Huey and Riley's parents are never seen or mentioned, and it is not known how they came to live with Granddad. It's pretty heavily implied that they're dead.

** Kuvira from Books 3 and 4. Unlike most of the examples above, in which the parent died or left [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou for the sake of their child]], Kuvira's parents flat out [[AbusiveParents didn't want her]] and kicked her out when she was 8, resulting in her finding her way into the Beifong household. Predictably, this pretty much shaped her actions [[spoiler: as the final BigBad, seeing her nation being abandoned just like she was]].

* In ''MonsterAllergy'', Zob, Zick's father, left Zick before the series. He returns in the series only for him to become the IncredibleShrinkingMan.

** Minx's and Rapture's parents aren't mentioned but their bandmates Riot's are shown. His father is a masculine former army member who disapproved of his son being into music, which he deemed for women and 'sissies'. He disowned Riot when he quit the army to be in a band. Eventually they reconcile after Riot's mom ends up hospitalized due to stress related to her husband and son fighting.

** Aja and Shana never refer to their biological parents. The Benton's father were their foster father and he died.

* Charlotte from ''WesternAnimation/MakingFiends'' claims that her parents are in space, however, the series implies that her parents are dead.

** Reoccuring character, Danse's parents are unknown for most of the series. There's an episode all about her parents though. Her mom was a famous ballerina who fled Yugoslavia for America but her whereabouts are unknown. Her father [[spoiler:was presumed dead but is alive]].

** Reoccuring character, Danse's parents are unknown for most of the series. There's an episode all about her parents. Her mom was a famous ballerina who fled to America but her whereabouts are unknown.

** And of course, Dipper and Mabel's parents are only seen briefly in the first episode (even then, only their arms are shown) and they live with their grunkle Stan.

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Soos' dad left him when he was very young and never visited, only sending postcards. His grandmother reassures him that he'll visit someday, but in some (Spanish) lines she says to herself, it's clear she thinks the father is a terrible person. As for his mother, we never see her.

* In ''MoralOrel'', Joe's mother [[spoiler:Nurse Bendy]] left him with his father, although he thought she died, as his father told him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Apple Bloom's parents are never seen, with their family matriarch, Granny Smith, acting as their guardian. While Applejack and Big Macintosh are at least old enough to live on their own (they stay on their farm due to the family business), Apple Bloom clearly isn't. Made even stranger seeing as the Apple family is the most detailed in the show. [[WordOfGod Word of]] [[Creator/LaurenFaust Faust]] and says that she and and her crew tried to come up with an explanation for where their parents were, with ideas such as them [[WhenYouComingHomeDad being travelling salesponies]] or simply [[DeceasedParentsAreTheBest being dead]], but they never figured out what to do with them, so it's [[ShrugOfGod left ambiguous]] in the series.