History Main / NewChildLeftBehind

* Night Owl from ''Literature/AlwaysComingHome'' was such a child, daughter to a military commander passing through the Valley. He was very surprised when passing though again years later.

* In one ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' episode, a reunion of old school heroes visits a training academy and one of the older heroes is casually introduced to his daughter. Of course since the mom was an Amazon, her lack of a father growing up was completely unremarkable and not a source of angst to anyone but him.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

Sometimes it's an unimportant minor character that gets pregnant, and it doesn't have any long-term repercussions whatsoever (for the story and the father that is). He probably doesn't even know she got pregnant; because she's just so considerate she decides not to tell him. In that case, his blissful ignorance neatly evades any and all of the inconvenient MoralDissonance of being an absentee parent.

[[folder: Fan Works]]

** The first time, it's mostly as a throwaway reference - Bucky Barnes and Minerva [=McGonagall=] got engaged during the war, and she only realised that she was pregnant after he fell to his presumed death. That child turned out to be the mother of Clint Barton - and yes, it's that kind of fic. However, it gains some additional significance after Bucky resurfaces as the Winter Soldier.

* ''Series/TheBarrier'': On the part of some of the protagonists, part of the motivation to move a pregnant woman to a place where she'll be safe from the PoliceState comes from sympathy towards the baby's deceased father. At some point, she has a few worries about her baby due to secret information she's keeping (the other reason she needs to change places of residence) that are mistaken by someone else for her admitting to have wanted to keep the baby much less before the father's death.

* ''Series/TheBarrier'': On the part of some of the protagonists, part of the motivation to move a pregnant woman to a place where she'll be safe from the PoliceState comes from sympathy towards the baby's deceased father. At some point she has a few worries about her baby due to secret information she's keeping (the other reason she needs to change places of residence) that are mistaken by someone for her admitting to have wanted to keep the baby much less before the father's death.

* At least one of Wildcat's kids is like this.

* Some ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' stories have this element.

* ''Film/SupermanReturns'' with [[spoiler:Supes and Lois' son]].
* In that quasi-''Film/GroundhogDay'' movie, ''Film/{{Premonition}}'', this happens.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d and then averted in ''Film/SinceYouWentAway''.
* Captain Kirk has this in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''. Justified when Kirk comments to the mother: "I did what you wanted, I stayed away".

* Literature/JamesBond is supposed to have had a son by one of his many conquests (in the new books, not the originals).

* A ''Franchise/StarTrek'' novel revealed Spock did this in the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]]'' episode All Our Yesterdays.

* This also may or may not have happened in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. Despite what the mom said her son was ''Dean incarnate''.

* Part of [[spoiler:John Casey's]] backstory in ''Series/{{Chuck}}''.

* This is the entire plot of ''Theatre/MammaMia''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Grandpa Simpson has a kid like this with a woman in England.

* This pops up in ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', mostly as a throwaway reference - Bucky Barnes and Minerva [=McGonagall=] got engaged during the war, and she only realised that she was pregnant after he fell to his presumed death. That child turned out to be the mother of Clint Barton - and yes, it's that kind of fic. However, it gains some additional significance after Bucky resurfaces as the Winter Soldier.
** It's used again, this time as a key plot point, in chapter 75, after a good deal of hinting, it is revealed that [[spoiler: Carol Danvers]] is the descendant of Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter, [[spoiler: her]] grandmother (Steve and Peggy's daughter) having been conceived shortly before Steve wound up crashing the ''Valkyrie''. There was no reason for him to know (even Peggy had no idea), as is repeatedly pointed out to him, but he still feels horribly guilty over it. Also, practically speaking he's still only in his late twenties. He thus avoids and tacitly rejects [[spoiler: Carol]], who's unsurprisingly rather hurt by this (what with having a shortage of good father figures). In time, he gets over it.

* ''Literature/{{Revan}}'' (a sequel to ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'') has this happen to the titular character and Bastila before he heads off to Sith space, never to be seen again.

* Downplayed in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', as Anakin finds out he's going to be a father before Luke and Leia are actually born. He accidentally gets Padme pregnant while on leave from the Clone Wars before having to go fight in the Outer Rim. Padme presumably didn't find out until after he'd left and had no way of contacting him, not to mention she has to [[MySecretPregnancy keep the pregnancy secret]] because Anakin's not supposed to be fathering kids with his [[SecretRelationship secret wife]]. When he returns to Coruscant several months later she informs him she's pregnant; although shocked, he's overjoyed by the news, insisting it's the "happiest moment of [his] life." [[SoHappyTogether The happy times]] [[DoomedByCanon don't last.]]

* In the manga ''Mademoiselle Butterfly'', by Ogura Akane (who also created Manga/KanojoNiNaruHi), [[spoiler:Butterfly and Chinatsu]] have only recently found out that she is pregnant with their first child before he is drafted into the army. Later on, [[spoiler:Butterfly]] comes to suspect that she's having twins, leading to [[spoiler:Chinatsu]]'s very amusing response to her letter asking for an additional name. When her husband goes MIA four years later, they seem to be an example of SomeoneToRememberHimBy, only [[spoiler:he later turns up a year later, still alive, thanks to some locals]].

* In the manga ''Mademoiselle Butterfly'', by Ogura Akane (who also created Manga/KanojoNiNaruHi), [[spoiler:Butterfly and Chinatsu]] have only recently found out that she is pregnant with their first child before he is drafted into the army. Later on, [[spoiler:Butterfly]] comes to suspect that she's having twins, leading to [[spoiler:Chinatsu]]'s very amusing response to her letter asking for an additional name. When her lover goes MIA, they seem to be an example of SomeoneToRememberHimBy, only [[spoiler:he later turns up five years later, still alive, thanks to some locals]].

* A different take on this appears in ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. [[spoiler:Hilshire has a hospital preserve some eggs from his cyborg Triela, who due to her limited life span won't live long enough to have children. He leaves a letter with his girlfriend Roberta informing her of this before the Hilshire/Triela fratello leave on their last fatal mission. Roberta carries and gives birth to the child, eventually revealed to a girl named Speranza, though it's not certain if her father was Hilshire himself or an anonymous donor.]]

* Happens in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'''s season 2 in the "Look at the Princess" episodes. The pregnant mother is stuck for the next 80 years or so in a kind of unaging stasis which Crichton cannot undergo anymore, so at least he's got a (ridiculously) good excuse.
** Also, think of the reason she wanted to marry him in the first place.
** And his leaving allows the mother to marry the man she's really in love with, giving the child a father, as well.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'': After spending half a season fighting against his duties as an Elder, [[spoiler: Leo]] finally decides to leave the sisters to join the Elders after a near death experience that nearly cost him and [[spoiler: Piper]] their lives. Guess who's pregnant at the end of the episode and [[KidFromtheFuture what the real identity of the Whitelighter that appeared at the end of last season is]]? Playing true to the trope, instead of using this as a reason to bring [[spoiler: Leo]] back, no matter how easy it would be for him to visit anyway, [[spoiler:Piper and even the grown up Chris]] insist on not getting [[spoiler: Leo]] involved.

* At the end of the Franchise/{{Superman}} arc ''ComicBook/NewKrypton,'' [[spoiler: [[ForegoneConclusion Mon-El gets trapped in the Phantom Zone again]], and his girlfriend Billie reveals to her uncle, the superhero Guardian, that she's pregnant right as they're skipping town.]]

* This pops up in ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', mostly as a throwaway reference - Bucky Barnes and Minerva [=McGonagall=] had a wartime fling, and she only realised that she was pregnant after he fell to his presumed death. That child turned out to be the mother of Clint Barton - and yes, it's that kind of fic. However, it gains some additional significance after Bucky resurfaces as the Winter Soldier.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': In "A Hundred Days", a stranded Jack O'Neill ends up GoingNative and becomes engaged to a local woman who wants a baby with him. At the end of the episode, he's rescued and returns home, leaving her behind gently touching her belly. WordOfGod stated that they did want the readers to guess that she was pregnant, thinking to pick up the story at a later date. However, they later changed their minds and scrapped the plot.

* In the original ''Yours Mine And Ours'' the father ships out to sea only to learn that another child will be added to their family, his son Joseph John.