History Main / SocialServicesDoesNotExist

* Literally half the cast of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' is living without parents or guardians. They're in ''middle school''. While Kyoko's case is plausible, Homura and Mami live in their own apartments. Homura apparently registered herself in school after a lengthy hospital stay. In fact, the only notable family is the titular character's. [[spoiler:Not that they can help their daughter much anyway.]]

* The ending of ''VisualNovel/{{AIR}}'', where [[spoiler:a depressed Haruko pretty much abandons her dying (and mostly bedridden) foster child Misuzu to the care of the wandering stranger Yukito. Despite the fact that Misuzu is the center of what amounts to a child custody conflict, her guardian pretty much running away]], no one notices or does anything but the main character, and he doesn't seek any help either.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass''. Emperor Charles is nothing but horrible to Lelouch and Nunnally (And in all odds, a few of the other princes and princesses of Britannia that we never got to see.). Their mother Marriane, however, was evidently a very sweet mother, [[spoiler:despite her [[EvilMatriarch true nature]]]], until she was murdered in the backstory. The loss of his only decent parent left its scars on both children, literally in Nunnally's case, and it's no coincidence that Lelouch practically reveres his mother [[spoiler:until he actually gets to meet her again eight years after the murder and realizes she wasn't Parent of the Year either]].
** Of course, considering he's, you know, ''[[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem the emperor]]'' and everything, even if there are child services in Britannia, they're not going to say a word to him.

** Misae/Mitsy in both versions. If Shin badmouths her or just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, she whacks him. One example occurs in an episode where Hima kept trying to steal a magazine Misae was trying to read. After she discovers that Hima drew in it, what does she do? Does she scold Hima? Hell no! [[KickTheDog She hits Shin for no reason, even though he just got home.]]
* Social services might as well be non-existent in ''Manga/FruitsBasket''. The Sohma family is large and powerful and probably capable of bribing the authorities to ignore all the kids they've traumatized, the number of which could start their own national baseball league. But this doesn't help explain Tohru, whose mother was so incapacitated after the death of her father as to have forgotten to feed her 4-year-old daughter for weeks on end, or Uotani, whose emotionally distant and constantly drunk father fails to realize his daughter has joined a gang by the fifth grade. These guys give the NGE parents a run for the gold in the "emotional scaring" event in the Destructive Parenting Olympics. One reviewer noted: "in the world of Fruits Basket, good parents are as common as penguins in the Sahara—every single one is either neglectful, smothering, unfeeling, abusive, misguided, or dead."
* ''Manga/FutureDiary'', one of the reasons Yuno Gasai is the psychotic {{Yandere}} we meet is because of the horrific child abuse her mother inflicted upon her, which includes locking her in a cage, starving her, and force-feeding her tatami straws for minor things like speaking out of line or missing curfew. Her parents never facing consequences is justified [[spoiler: in the first and second worlds, where the abuse she suffered isn't brought to light until a year or two after she'd already killed them, however in the third world, Yuno's parents are not killed and instead stop abusing her. Whether or not the police or social services did anything about the abuse 3rd world!Yuno already went through is never mentioned, but the very fact that Yuno is still living with her parents implies that they didn't.]]
* Azusa's entire living situation in ''Manga/GakuenOuji'' is just downright absurd. He's basically a MinorLivingAlone in an extremely run-down apartment. And he's so poor he has to sell himself for food, and has been doing so ''for years''. Several people know about this and still do nothing about it. Of course, AdultsAreUseless in this manga.

* In ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies'', Seita and his younger sister Setsuko are left homeless after the destruction of their home by Allied bombing and the death of their mother. Their aunt takes them in for a short while, but after leaving her house neither the police nor doctors are willing to help them and they must fend for themselves, stealing food to survive and living in an abandoned bomb shelter by a river.
* The parents of ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', who are known as the worst {{Jerkass}} parents in the world. Due to the father's laziness and the mother's gambling habits, Hayate has been the primary breadwinner in his house since the age of eight. In the very first chapter they steal sixteen-year-old Hayate's hard-earned paycheck, lose it all on pachinko, then sell their only son's organs to [[{{Yakuza}} "some very nice people"]] to pay off their 156,804,000 yen ($1,467,504) debt. And just to top it off, this happens on ''Christmas Eve''. The mental scars left by his parents persist for a very, very long time. [[spoiler:And this doesn't even include [[MoralEventHorizon what happened with Athena]].]]
** Hell, Hayate's so used to his parents being complete {{Jerkass}}es that he usually speaks rather casually about all the abuse he's been put through, usually to the discomfort and disbelief of his listeners. The example speech at the top of this page was a cheerfully-read ''grade school'' oral report which left the teacher and the entire class in tears.
** The reason why they're so hard on Hayate and stole his paycheck? Hayate has an older brother who escaped their influence. They learned from their "mistakes" and made sure to report Hayate being underage themselves both to steal his paycheck and to destroy whatever credibility he may have had with the authorities.
* In ''[[Anime/HellGirl Hell Girl: The Cauldron of Three]]'', the protagonist Yuzuki's [[spoiler:mother was allowed to die of wasting illness untended because her dead husband was (wrongfully) despised for causing the accident in which he died, despite little Yuzuki begging for help from neighbors and hospitals. And then [[DeadAllAlong allowed orphaned little Yuzuki to die alone, filling her soul with such hatred and denial that she became a candidate for following in Hell Girl's footsteps.]]]]
* In ''Manga/InsideMari'' Mari's mother [[spoiler:apparently changed her name partway through her childhood]] and this was allowed. There's also the part where Mari stays home for several days [[spoiler:when she goes into a catatonic state]] and apparently her school didn't care.
* In ''Manga/IronWokJan'', Jan was raised by his grandfather to become a master chef. His training methods included ''slamming him against a boiling hot steamer if he kept tofu boiling for longer than a minute''. He also would beat the ever-loving hell out of him with his cane, to the point where Jan's back is covered with scars (which at one point clues his rival in to the nature of his upbringing). It's also heavily implied than Jan never went to school, just lived with his grandfather learning how to cook.

* If not for this trope, ''Manga/{{Kanamemo}}'' would've been a pretty darned short series/manga. Kana is a young girl with no remaining family members and no adults looking out for her welfare. She runs off and goes around trying to find a live-in job with no one raising an eyebrow. When she does find somewhere to live, one of her housemates is a ''child molester''.
* ''Kodomo no Jikan'' is full of situations where Social Services should have intervened. Reiji had a terrible childhood thanks to his abusive father and neglectful mother. He was then taken in by his older cousin Aki, [[spoiler:who he fell in love with and had a relationship with before she died of cancer]]. Now he's the sole guardian of his younger cousin Rin, who he's trying to [[spoiler:[[WifeHusbandry raise to take her dead mother's place]].]] Then there's Rin herself, who has a huge crush on a man twice her age that manifests in truly disturbing ways, not the least of which includes a level of sexual knowledge no child that young should possess.

* Hayate Yagami of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', who has been living independently for who knows how many years after her parents died. While she's shown to be [[WiseBeyondTheirYears mature enough to live on her own]], and her mysterious uncle explains where she gets the funds for supporting herself, one wonders how no one thought that it might be a good idea to have someone look after a ''wheel-chair bound 9-year-old girl''. [[spoiler: Granted this was part of an EvilPlan, so those in charge might be forcing the authorities to look the other way.]]

** It appears that, with VERY few exceptions, the titular character was all but socially isolated to the point of emotional abuse from very early childhood. And since the NotSoDifferentRemark with Gaara, fanfiction writers take it to the logical extreme, horrendous physical abuse is added on to the emotional abuse, making one wonder how Naruto managed to be as well-adjusted as he is if that's true.

* Gendo Ikari, as usual for ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', is an example of a normally comedic trope [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] into something tragic. At least he palms his kid off on someone who ''tries''... eventually. Of course, given that this is [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] Japan, it's possible that social services actually ''doesn't'' exist; and regardless, given that NERV basically ''is'' the world government, even if they do exist there's [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem nothing they could do]] to stop Gendo.

* Maron's parents from ''Manga/PhantomThiefJeanne'' emotionally scarred their daughter by regularly leaving her at home alone at night as a young girl because of their jobs. Before she was even ''in grade school'', they left to work overseas, and haven't contacted her since when the series begins. Miyako and her family might have been right across the hall to take care of her, but really, who the hell thought it was okay for a girl that young to be living in an apartment alone? By the time the series begins, Maron is a BrokenBird incapable of comprehending "love" because "no one taught [her] about it" and spends most of her time pretending not to be depressed and [[{{Kaitou}} stealing valuable pieces of art]] in the name of {{God}}. It gets worse when you start thinking about how Miyako's father, who knows all about Maron's situation and sees her on almost a daily basis, is ''a police officer...''

* Literally half the cast of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' is living without parents or guardians. They're in ''middle school''. While Kyoko's case is plausible, Homura and Mami live in their own apartments. Homura apparently registered herself in school after a lengthy hospital stay. In fact, the only notable family is the titular character's. [[spoiler: Not that they can help their daughter much anyway.]]

** Orihime's older brother Sora [[PromotionToParent took over raising her]] as soon as he turned 18, due to their parents' abuse and neglect. Apparently no one thought it necessary to remove Orihime OR Sora from an abusive environment before then, and after Sora's death Orihime lived alone, despite being ''in middle school''. There is a vague HandWave her legal guardian is now a non-cohabiting aunt who provides some financial assistance. We don't have much detail on Chad's family situation except that he, too, seems to have had no living family and no guardian since at least middle school, and yet receives no attention from social workers. Even Uryuu lives in his own apartment rather than share a house with his estranged father, although we know Ryuuken keeps an eye on his son from a distance and presumably is still his legal guardian.

* Lampshaded, a bit, in Creator/StephenKing 's "The Body." When Chris misses too many days, the truant officer shows up. If Chris has been beaten bloody, the officer goes on his way. If he's just skipping classes, the officer takes him back to school. The Narrator notes that no one questioned it at the time.

* In ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'', you'd think that after Brock's father abandoned his family and his mother [[strike:died]] [[DubInducedPlotHole left]], the social services would help look after his dozen siblings, rather than just letting the teenager who's also holding down a job as a gym leader do it all by himself. It's made worse when Brock leaves his dozen siblings with their newly found father, who is completely incompetent (come on, who would expect this guy to take care of 9 children?). And it's later revealed that their mother [[spoiler:was alive all along and wandering around the world like her husband, and Lola even elopes with Flint leaving their remaining kids alone with their ''second'' oldest to look after them until Brock returns.]] It seems that leaving your children completely alone with just an older teenage brother in charge isn't considered a crime in the Pokémon world. In all of these cases, Brock is pretty angry to say the least.
** Lillie and Gladion definitely could have used it as well -- due to their neglectful mother being a {{Workaholic}} (leaving their butler to take care of the house), Lillie is nearly taken by an Ultra Beast due to one of Lusamine's own coworkers and develops a fear of Pokemon with TraumaInducedAmnesia while the experience scars Gladion enough to not speak up in support of his sister. Thank goodness they had some TrueCompanions to help her regain her love of Pokemon.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', you'd think that after Brock's father abandoned his family and his mother [[strike:died]] [[DubInducedPlotHole left]], the social services would help look after his dozen siblings, rather than just letting the teenager who's also holding down a job as a gym leader do it all by himself. It's made worse when Brock leaves his dozen siblings with their newly found father, who is completely incompetent (come on, who would expect this guy to take care of 9 children?). And it's later revealed that their mother [[spoiler: was alive all along and wandering around the world like her husband, and Lola even elopes with Flint leaving their remaining kids alone with their ''second'' oldest to look after them until Brock returns.]] It seems that leaving your children completely alone with just an older teenage brother in charge isn't considered a crime in the Pokémon world. In all of these cases, Brock is pretty angry to say the least.

*** ...[[FridgeLogic But she can speak Japanese]]. ([[KeepItForeign English in most versions]]).

* In ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'', Miss Hattie's orphanage goes unpunished for her treatment of the girls there. It's not even labeled as a "girl scout cookie cartel" or anything similar.

* Averted in ''Manga/{{Erased}}''; most of the first half revolves around trying to get Kayo taken away from her abusive mother. Social services agents were attempting to do this before the protagonist gets involved, but her mother knows what they're up to, and avoids letting them catch her at home or find any definitive evidence (a pretty realistic take on this type of situation). [[spoiler:But Kayo's grandmother has to step in to finally get her out of that household.]]

** Averted in the ComicBook/New52 reboot, which saw Billy bouncing in and out of foster care several times for being a troublemaker before being put with the Vasquezes and becoming Shazam.

* Averted hard in ''Fanfic/GalPals'' (''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse''). Once other people become aware of the trauma Lincoln has endured at the hands of his sisters, they immediately contact child services. This even get to the point that a trial is made against, though they reveive light penances.
* Numerous ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfics either avert this trope or play it straight. It's double subverted in the crossover fic ''Fanfic/IfWishesWerePonies''. Harry believed this trope because he was abused by the Dursleys for eight years and no adult was willing to help him. He only started learning to trust adults when he ended up in Equestria (even then, it takes a ''long'' time for any adult that isn't a pony to earn his trust). It's later revealed that ''Dumbledore'' is to blame for this: he put a spell on the Dursley house that prevented anyone from removing Harry from their care (believing that this would keep Death Eaters from trying to take Harry). It actually prevented anyone from noticing the tell-tale signs of abuse and putting him somewhere safe. When Harry and Twilight tell their Muggle lawyer about the Dursleys, Lin Yueshi calls the proper authorities and gets them arrested, allowing for Twilight to become Harry's legally recognized guardian in both Equestria and England.

* In ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' series "[[http://archiveofourown.org/series/82162 Stars from Home]]", Charles is trying to legally adopt Scott and they both meet with a social worker, averting the trope; played straight when Scott thinks about the years in [[OrphanageOfFear a foundlings' home in Omaha]] when he genuinely needed someone to protect him.
* ''Fanfic/WithGraceAndElegance'' averts this after being absent from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' -- when the social services get an inkling of what's happening in the Saotome family, they immediately decide Ranma needs to stay ''away'' from Genma and Nodoka, and regular check-ups to ensure her mental health. Ranma herself is rather stunned to have a social worker after spending her whole childhood on the roads.

* Averted in the most traumatizing way in ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch''--the contrast of wacky alien hijinks with the reality of a teenage orphan trying and failing to support her baby sister is a main plot point.

** Averted in the 1999 sequel ''Film/TheRageCarrie2'', which opens with Rachel's mother (a fanatical Christian with a mindset very similar to Margaret) not only losing custody of her daughter but being flat-out institutionalized, the state having judged her unfit to control even her own life, let alone her daughter's. That said, her foster parents aren't much better; while they're more neglectful than abusive, they're raising her purely to [[OnlyInItForTheMoney get paid by the state]] for participating in the foster system.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Averted; they exist, but they're the worse alternative.
* ''Literature/{{Pale}}'': Averted when Verona's emotionally abusive father finally causes a big enough incident that her friends inform their parents about the situation, much to Verona's shock and bewilderment, as she had resigned herself to downplaying the situation and being stuck with her father until she was an adult. While child services don't remove her from her father's house, they enforce mandatory check-ins and the social worker assigned to Verona's case completely believes her account.

* ''Franchise/WhenTheyCry''
** Played straight in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', with poor Satoko being an orphan at the mercy of her abusive uncle. Creator/Ryukishi07 himself used to be a social worker, and he apologizes in a side note for playing this trope straight.
** Averted in ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'': once Rosa's neighbors catch up that she is leaving her elementary-aged daughter Maria alone for days after an incident where the poor kid got accidentaly locked out of her home while her mother was in a "work trip", social services are called and keep trying to investigate. Unfortunately, Rosa, who is well aware on how she ''really'' is treating Maria, keeps blocking every CPS person who tries to investigate. In the manga adaptation, you can see the frustrated expression of the poor social worker being violently rebuked by Rosa by the umptenth time.

* In ''Series/ShamelessUS'' social services do exist but they seem to have largely given up on the Gallagher family. The parents consist of an absentee mother and an alcoholic father, and the kids have been taken away by child services in the past. However, it never seemed to stick and now Fiona makes sure that they stay under Child Services' radar.

*** In both of those cases, Worf and Data being close to the kids was at least consulted with Counselor Troi, and Troi approved those requests. With Worf, it was because he was a fellow orphan and the child's mother died under his command, so Worf felt a degree of responsibility to help the child. With Data, it's because the child was deeply traumatized by seeing his parents and everyone he knew die around him and was emulating Data as a defense mechanism (the fact that Data is the one who rescued him from the wreckage of the ship where his parents died certainly was part of it as well), which Troi encouraged on at least a short-term basis to help him deal with the trauma. Troi would almost certainly be the most appropriate member of the senior staff, and any childcare on board would probably ultimately report to her and she'd be the one to approve at least any temporary living arrangements onboard before the child could be returned to the civilian world would make sense. Not to mention that every ship's cabin is shown to have multiple safeties and getting food is as easy as talking to the computer, meaning that a child could safely stay in a cabin alone.

** An aversion is at least alluded to in one episode, wherein Debra and Ray (through [[PoorCommunicationKills poor communication]]) both leave the house on separate errands and leave their twin sons alone; when they realize, they rush home to find the daughter has returned home from a friend's house and is taking care of the boys. Marie notes that if not for the daughter, Debra "would be facing jail time."

Oftentimes, this isn't what happens. [[EvilMatriarch Many]] [[WickedStepmother fictional]] [[ArchnemesisDad parents]] believe that this is a load of poppycock, and act disdainful, [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]] or [[AbusiveParents outright malicious]] to their children. Others (particularly in [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood comedic series]]) are just {{Jerkass}}es, either through self-absorption or stupidity. These ones may just not ''understand'' that doing things like passing their debts onto their kids, arranging random and contradictory marriages, and engaging in thoughtless behavior toward their children could cause lasting damage. They aren't applying the rod to avoid spoiling the child -- they don't even know it's there. (Rod or child, whichever.)

** Toyed with in another case ([[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E4SuddenlyHuman "Suddenly Human"]]) where a Human boy orphaned in an alien attack and then adopted by said aliens is slated to be returned to his Human family, especially after evidence of possible abuse by the adoptive father surfaces. Ultimately the evidence is ruled circumstantial and the boy is returned, as per his own wishes, to his alien family. [note: Multiple fans have challenged this ending, as they thought it irresponsible of Picard to allow a child to go back to an environment that had proved to be dangerous for him]

* Numerous ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfics either avert this trope or play it straight. It's double subverted in the crossover fic ''Fanfic/IfWishesWerePonies'', Harry believed this trope because he was abused by the Dursleys for eight years and no adult was willing to help him. He only started learning to trust adults when he ended up in Equestria. It's later revealed that ''Dumbledore'' is to blame for this: he put a spell on the Dursley house that prevented anyone from removing Harry from their care (believing that this would keep Death Eaters from trying to take Harry). It actually prevented anyone from noticing the tell-tale signs of abuse and putting him somewhere safe. When Harry and Twilight tell their Muggle lawyer about the Dursleys, Lin Yueshi calls the proper authorities and gets them arrested, allowing for Twilight to become Harry's legally recognized guardian in both Equestria and England.

* Sam's mom on ''Series/ICarly'' should've had Sam taken away from her on general principle after one of her many dangerous or neglectful episodes.

*** In both of those cases, Worf and Data being close to the kids was at least consulted with Counselor Troi, and Troi approved those requests. With Worf, it was because he was a fellow orphan and the child's mother died under his command, so Worf felt a degree of responsibility to help the child. With Data, it's because the child was deeply traumatized by seeing his parents and everyone he knew die around him and was emulating Data as a defense mechanism (the fact that Data is the one who rescued him from the wreckage of the ship where his parents died certainly was part of it as well), which Troi encouraged on at least a short-term basis to help him deal with the trauma. Troi would almost certainly be the most appropriate member of the senior staff, and any childcare on board would probably ultimately report to her and she'd be the one to approve at least any temporary living arrangements onboard before the child could be returned to the civilian world would make sense.
** Toyed with in another case ([[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E4SuddenlyHuman "Suddenly Human"]]) where a Human boy orphaned in an alien attack and then adopted by said aliens is slated to be returned to his Human family, especially after evidence of possible abuse by the adoptive father surfaces. Ultimately the evidence is ruled circumstantial and the boy is returned, as per his own wishes, to his alien family.

** Played straight in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', with poor Satoko being an orphan at the mercy of her abusive uncle. Ryukishi07 himself used to be a social worker, and he apologizes in a side note for playing this trope straight.

* ''LightNovel/ChivalryOfAFailedKnight'' has two very notable instances. First, there's the main character who is treated as literally ''non-existent'' by his entire family, and its subordinate families because he wasn't born with a high enough "magic power" rank, and then hunted down as a "runaway" because he ''was driven out by his treatment'' until his paternal great-grandfather took him in and gave him food, shelter, and some honest-to-goodness actual affection, ''and his father absolutely refuses to even attempt to acknowledge how that is cruel.'' Come volume 6, there's Yui Tatara [[spoiler: who is specifically trained to become a psychotic assassin starting at the age of three by her own family keeping her life in a constant state of peril, up to and including shooting at her in her sleep, and this is noted to be a "family tradition" going back at least three generations.]] You'd think [[FridgeLogic with the very strict gun and blade laws in Japan, someone would have noticed...]]

* Kinjiro's mother (a professional wrestler) in ''LightNovel/MayoChiki'' performs actual wrestling moves on him.

* Somewhat subverted in ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler''. Baki's the son of a mentally and physically abusive martial artist who's never around and a rather cold and distant mother. His father only had Baki conceived because he wanted someone strong to fight, and repeatedly tries to beat him to death when he fails to live up to his expectations. So why doesn't anyone try to help? Because his father's the strongest fighter in the world, to the point where the standard procedure of the US military is to ''get out of his way''. Nobody dares to do anything because they don't want to earn his wrath.

* Kevin's parents by the second ''Film/HomeAlone'' film have problems with this. Leaving him behind once can possibly be justified (particularly since the film clearly shows they mistook the annoying neighbor kid for Kevin,) but not keeping track of a child two years in a row simply because they were afraid to miss a plane? No one in the family notices a child missing for the duration of a flight from Chicago to Miami (and a child who's been missing before, no less?) And once they report it to the police, they JOKE about it (out of nerves, but still?) In real life, this magnitude of neglect would certainly prompt at least an interview with social services.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'': {{Subverted|Trope}}. The Chipettes initially lived in a treehouse by themselves for a couple of seasons. By season 4, however, the school finds out about this, and a social worker begins to try and find someone to take them in. Fearing that they would be stuck in separate foster homes, Alvin gets an idea of talking his neighbor Miss Miller into being their foster mother.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': Mindy's mother leaves her toddler in a harness attached to a tree and expects her dog, Buttons, to watch over her time and time again; she's otherwise unsupervised. Naturally, [[BadlyBatteredBabysitter Buttons]] is the primary reason Mindy remains ''alive''. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Mindy's mother leaves Mindy alone to go to a "better parenting conference".
* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': The Delightful Children were kidnapped and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] by a man who then ''adopted'' them and is implied to frequently subject them to abuse. How in the world did five children disappearing go virtually unnoticed, and why has nobody caught on that there's something off about how the kids behave is a mystery.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Mr. and Mrs. Turner frequently neglect their son at home and leave him in the hands of a sadistically evil babysitter. While Timmy's misery is the reason that he gets [[TheOmnipotent fairy godparents]], it's not like his parents know that. The other kids Vicky babysits or often meets and her little sister, Tootie, don't get it much better either.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Peter and Lois don't start out so bad. But they degenerate into complete jerkasses, with Peter even stating he doesn't care for the kids that much. And Meg is treated absolutely appallingly in many episodes. In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E11DialMegForMurder Dial Meg For Murder]]" Peter lassos her, drags her down the stairs, and prepares to brand her with a ''red hot poker.'' Turns out she's already been branded by the mayor, not that Peter cares. He also practices riding a bronco on Chris' back. Lois is more one for emotional neglect, only showing the slightest affection for her kids when it suits her. Even Stewie doesn't get off scot-free, often left on his own for long periods of time, or with no company other than the family dog. The dog is intelligent and can talk, but still. When Meg is CallingTheOldManOut in "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS10E2SeahorseSeashellParty Seahorse Seashell Party]]", she states that if anyone from the outside world knew how he treated her, Peter would be in jail by now.
* ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'': Pete gets away with such things as tricking his preteen child into taking over his job for a day, pressuring him into skydiving, threatening him in front of a public official, and admitting (or all but admitting) to being a bad parent in a courtroom and a hospital without even being monitored, notwithstanding all the health-detrimental forced labor that could have been caught if he were. PJ doesn't even hide the fact he's miserable at home, and on some occasions, it's obvious he desperately wants to leave.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
** More often than not, Stan does something that would get the twins sent right back home to their parents [[PoliceAreUseless if the cops were the least bit capable at their jobs]]. At best, he tends to turn a blind eye to all the potentially dangerous shenanigans that Dipper and Mabel get up to, and at worst... it's outright stated that the three of them have spent at least one night in jail.
** {{Subverted|Trope}} on one occasion when the Mystery Shack is raided by government agents. One of the agents ''does'' intend to take Dipper and Mabel to Child Protective Services (though he doesn't see to realize that the twins have two loving parents). It's only because the agents are mind-wiped by the memory gun that the twins got to stay with Stan.
** Pacifica's parents are ''very'' emotionally abusive, to the point that Pacifica is straight-up scared of displeasing them. Not to mention the fact that they basically trained her to respond with contrition whenever they ring a bell...
* Despite the [[MundaneFantastic pseudo-modern]] setting of ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBeaks'', people simply let Fee and Foo live outdoors, albeit with the Beaks family being willing to provide for them (their usual sleeping quarters are the branches of [[ArborealAbode the tree the Beaks house is made from]]). One episode focuses on Harvey getting them to move into the actual house, [[StatusQuoIsGod which all of them eventually agree against]] (barring emergencies).
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'':
** The series can be somewhat bad at this. Arnold's grandmother and grandfather are incredibly weird, but social services never check up -- although in the movie, his grandfather mentions that if they did step in, he and grandma would go into a nursing home and Arnold would go to a foster home, potentially because of their weirdness, though also because of their age (they're in their early 80s). However, Arnold did get plenty of love and care from his grandparents and the other residents of the boarding house do function as an extended family to him.
** Helga, meanwhile, is probably worse, given that her dad is mentally abusive (about as close to AbusiveParents as you can get while still being kid-friendly) and her mom is an alcoholic, constantly depressed, unaware of her surroundings, has no driver's license, and falls asleep in weird places after making "smoothies".
** Also, there's Stoop Kid. A kid who has apparently ''never'' left his stoop and appears to be in his teens. He's well known around the neighborhood, begging the question of why CPS never took issue with a child acting like a completely shut-in since birth.
* Mako's and Bolin's BackStory in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' implies there is no Social Services in Republic City, as "death of parents" = "orphans out on the street." {{Justified|Trope}}, as the era being emulated is an Asianized version of the 1920s, and that period predated such institutions.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Madeline}}'': In ''Lost in Paris'', the antagonist had apparently been lying to the courts for a while to keep the other girls locked up in the lace factory. Kinda surprising considering that, you know, it's ''France''...
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': Due to RuleOfFunny, the parents get away with attitudes that would have caught the attention of social services in real life, [[ItMakesSenseInContext such as locking their son out of the house because they think he brings bad luck]] in one episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'': PlayedForDrama. Clay [[AbusiveParents regularly emotionally and physically abuses Orel]], at one point having him shot in the leg and even prides himself of doing so ''in the presence of the public''. Bloberta, while less bad than Clay, [[ParentalNeglect always allows Shapey to play with dangerous objects and ignores the dangerous circumstances Orel often gets himself into]]. Other parents in Moralton are just as bad, such as [[TheDitz Doughy]] constantly getting thrown out of his house by his [[{{Manchild}} immature parents]] and [[TheBully Joe]] not being sent to proper guardians after [[spoiler:Nurse Bendy]] [[ParentalAbandonment left him]] (he's raised by his 91-year-old immobilized father and apathetic half-sister).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Odalia Blight is quite emotionally abusive to her youngest daughter, while her husband mostly just stands by and enables her abuse.
* Suga Momma in ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'' certainly treated Oscar pretty poorly. Likewise, Oscar does do ''some'' pretty terrible things to Penny, but most of the abuse Penny faces comes from her peers rather than her parents.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': The parents should not be allowed to keep their children, given all the unsupervised antics the ''baby'' protagonists get into. For example, they always leave Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Dil, and Kimi in a crib or playpen; they should've figured out that Tommy can break out of most playpens or cribs with his screwdriver quite easily ''ages'' ago. The only supervision they use 90 percent of the time is Grandpa Lou, a borderline narcoleptic (he falls asleep at the drop of a hat). Often, when they're in a store, they'll put the babies down on the floor (again, with no one to watch them), and walk off ''in the opposite direction''. One of the worst examples is when Stu and Grandpa Lou took Tommy to a baseball game in "Baseball" -- he ended up ''part'' of the game, and could've easily been killed if he didn't fall into the player's mitt, all because the two were too engrossed in their game, and it was caught on camera and live TV to boot. And when they took the babies to the musical in ''Reptar on Ice'', the kids managed to sneak onto the ice itself (and Tommy is ''barefoot'', no pants or shoes for the freezing ice), because Stu and Didi fell asleep during the show and Lou was too engrossed in it. To make a long story short, if they weren't in a cartoon, all four/six of them would be ''[[TooDumbToLive dead]]'' due to the neglect their parents give them.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** Homer Simpson is a close second for king of this trope, although to his credit he finally cleans up his act in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie''. This was poked fun at in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E22BehindTheLaughter Behind the Laughter]]", where the RunningGag of an angry Homer choking was a left-in ad-lib casually described as a surprisingly amusing act of child abuse.
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS14E11BartingOver Barting Over]]", this trope was evoked even when the law was involved. A judge emancipated Bart because Homer was such a bad father, saying she had no choices besides that and letting Homer keep custody of Bart.
** In a specific example, in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]", part of Frank Grimes ridiculously miserable backstory involved being abandoned by his parents at age four and thus never having the money to go to school; instead having to spend his childhood working by delivering toys, he never got to play with, to [[SpoiledBrat rich children]]. In real life, children are mandated by law to go school, and child labor would prevent a four-year-old from being made to work.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** Pretty much every adult is a complete idiot who barely supervises their kids at all, often allowing them to get into dangerous and life-threatening situations.
** Butters has AbusiveParents who psychologically mistreat him, [[DisproportionateRetribution ground him for the smallest mistakes he makes]], even when they are things outside of Butters' control, and have viciously beat him on at least one occasion. He also has a [[GruesomeGrandparent sociopathic grandmother]], who makes his parents look like ''saints'' in comparison.
** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS6E11ChildAbductionIsNotFunny Child Abduction is Not Funny]]", the parents collectively banish all the kids from town out of fear that ''they'' themselves will abduct their own children! Even the mayor does not question this.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
** The titular Steven has a loving family, but he doesn't go to school, despite being twelve at the start. He apparently has never even ''heard'' of school and neither have the Gems. WordOfGod is he's homeschooled but he still doesn't seem to have any formal education.
** Greg does regularly visit Steven and considering that they interact with the Mayor, there doesn't seem to be any problems. Later episodes reveal Greg helped build the house Steven lives in and it's most likely that Steven is registered as home-schooled and under Greg's guardianship.
** Regarding the homeschool issue though, it is at least pretty well done. One comic had Steven follow Connie to school and it turns out that Steven is the second-smartest student in the class, behind Connie herself, so the education does seem to be valid. Another episode has Greg and Steven talking about college. Steven points out he is too busy protecting the world with the Gems to really go to college, but Greg does add he could get Steven online courses, which Steven doesn't object to.
** Perhaps more concerning, before Greg builds the house adjoining the temple, it's in-show {{Canon}} that he and Steven live in his van, even when Steven is a newborn. And this is a setting where harsh winters appear to be reasonably common - in one episode they're only actually living indoors during a snowstorm because Vidalia asked Greg to housesit while she was away. Would it have been that hard to find an apartment for a few years, dude?!
** The sequel series ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'' hammers this further in [[WhamEpisode "Growing Pains"]] where [[spoiler:Steven goes to Dr. Maheswaran's office for his very first check up to discuss his bizarre growth spurts. His mother-in-law flat out states that all his childhood adventures fighting gem monsters and villains have resulted in him obtaining [=PTSD=]. Any doctor who was not accustomed to the gem-related events of the series like Dr. Maheswaran would have reported their findings to child services to give Steven critical help (Though Dr. M did intend to chastise Greg for ''not'' taking Steven to a doctor sooner)]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': Sari Sumdac. Despite being the daughter of a very prominent businessman, no one in the bureaucracy has ever picked up on the fact that she ''legally doesn't exist''. Moreover, when her father goes missing, not only is there no attempt to provide her with an adult guardian, but she's ''thrown out of her home'' by the business's new CEO. It's okay, though, because she moves in with a bunch of giant alien robots with no legal status on Earth.
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Mr. and Mrs. Turner frequently neglect their son at home and leave their son in the hands of a sadistically evil babysitter. While Timmy's misery is the reason that he gets [[TheOmnipotent fairy godparents]], it's not like his parents know that. The other kids Vicky babysits or often meets and her little sister, Tootie, don't get it much better either.

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': Sari Sumdac. Despite being the daughter of a very prominent businessman, no one in the bureaucracy has ever picked up on the fact that she ''legally doesn't exist''. Moreover, when her father goes missing, not only is there no attempt to provide her with an adult guardian, but she's ''thrown out of her home'' by the business's new CEO. It's okay, though, because she moves in with a bunch of giant alien robots with no legal status on Earth. Yeaaaah.

* Initially played straight, then averted in ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks''. The Chipettes initially lived in a treehouse by themselves for a couple of seasons. By season 4, however, the school finds out about this, and a social worker begins to try and find someone to take them in. Fearing that they would be stuck in separate foster homes, Alvin gets an idea of talking his neighbor Miss Miller into being their foster mother.
* Mindy's mother in ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' leaves her toddler in a harness attached to a tree and expects her dog, Buttons, to watch over her time and time again; she's otherwise unsupervised. Naturally, [[BadlyBatteredBabysitter Buttons]] is the primary reason Mindy remains ''alive''. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Mindy's mother leaves Mindy alone to go to a "better parenting conference".
* Let's go over the Delightful Children's situation in ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor''. They were kidnapped and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] by a man who then ''adopted'' them and is implied to frequently subject them to abuse. How in the world did five children disappearing go virtually unnoticed, and why has nobody caught on that there's something off about how the kids behave?
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Mr. and Mrs. Turner constantly leave their son in the hands of a sadistically evil babysitter and still neglect him when home. While Timmy's misery is the reason that he gets [[TheOmnipotent fairy godparents]], it's not like his parents know that. The other kids Vicky babysits or often meets and her poor little sister don't get it much better either.
* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter and Lois don't start out so bad. But they degenerate into complete jerkasses, with Peter even stating he doesn't care for the kids that much. And Meg is treated absolutely appallingly in many episodes. In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E11DialMegForMurder Dial Meg For Murder]]" Peter lassos her, drags her down the stairs, and prepares to brand her with a ''red hot poker.'' Turns out she's already been branded by the mayor, not that Peter cares. He also practices riding a bronco on Chris' back. Lois is more one for emotional neglect, only showing the slightest affection for her kids when it suits her. Even Stewie doesn't get off scot-free, often left on his own for long periods of time, or with no company other than the family dog. The dog is intelligent and can talk, but still. When Meg is CallingTheOldManOut in "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS10E2SeahorseSeashellParty Seahorse Seashell Party]]", she states that if anyone from the outside world knew how he treated her, Peter would be in jail by now.
* On ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'', Pete gets away with such things as tricking his preteen child into taking over his job for a day, pressuring him into skydiving, threatening him in front of a public official, and admitting (or all but admitting) to being a bad parent in a courtroom and a hospital without even being monitored, notwithstanding all the health-detrimental forced labor that could have been caught if he were. PJ doesn't even hide the fact he's miserable at home, and on some occasions, it's obvious he desperately wants to leave.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' has a couple of examples, which are mostly explainable by the fact that [[PoliceAreUseless the Gravity Falls police department is staggeringly incompetent]]:
** At least every other episode, Stan does something that would get the twins sent right back home to their parents if the cops were the least bit capable at their jobs. At best, he tends to turn a blind eye to all the potentially dangerous shenanigans that Dipper and Mabel get up to, and at worst... it's outright stated that the three of them have spent at least one night in jail.
*** Later [[AvertedTrope averted]] in that when the Mystery Shack is raided by government agents, one of the agents ''does'' intend to take Dipper and Mabel to Child Protective Services (though he doesn't see to realize that the twins have two loving parents). It's only because the agents are mind-wiped by the memory gun that the twins got to stay with Stan.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Madeline}}: Lost in Paris'', the antagonist had apparently been lying to the courts for a while to keep the other girls locked up in the lace factory. Kinda surprising considering that, you know, it's ''FRANCE''...
* Due to the RuleOfFunny being in full effect in ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', the parents get away with attitudes that would have caught the attention of social services in real life, [[ItMakesSenseInContext such as locking their son out of the house because they think he brings bad luck]] in one episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' [[RuleOfDrama plays this for drama]], as Orel and Shapey have never been sent to foster care in spite of their household circumstances. Clay [[AbusiveParents regularly emotionally and physically abuses Orel]], at one point having him shot in the leg and even prides himself of doing so ''in the presence of the public''. Bloberta, while less bad than Clay, [[ParentalNeglect always allows Shapey to play with dangerous objects and ignores the dangerous circumstances Orel often gets himself into]]. Other parents in Moralton are just as bad, such as [[TheDitz Doughy]] constantly getting thrown out of his house by his [[{{Manchild}} immature parents]] and [[TheBully Joe]] not being sent to proper guardians after [[spoiler:Nurse Bendy]] [[ParentalAbandonment left him]] (he's raised by his 91-year-old immobilized father and apathetic half-sister). Since Moralton is shown to be a CrapsackWorld filled with ApatheticCitizens, it's tragically likely that either there ''are'' no social services, or [[DepartmentOfChildDisservices the social services are unreliable at best]].

* The parents in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' should not be allowed to keep their children, given all the unsupervised antics the ''baby'' protagonists get into. For example, they always leave Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Dil, and Kimi in a crib or playpen; they should've figured out that Tommy can break out of most playpens or cribs with his screwdriver quite easily ''ages'' ago. The only supervision they use 90 percent of the time is Grandpa Lou, a borderline narcoleptic (he falls asleep at the drop of a hat). Often, when they're in a store, they'll put the babies down on the floor (again, with no one to watch them), and walk off ''in the opposite direction''. One of the worst examples is when Stu and Grandpa Lou took Tommy to a baseball game in "Baseball" -- he ended up ''part'' of the game, and could've easily been killed if he didn't fall into the player's mitt, all because the two were too engrossed in their game, and it was caught on camera and live TV to boot! And when they took the babies to the musical in ''Reptar on Ice'', the kids managed to sneak onto the ice itself (and Tommy is ''barefoot'', no pants or shoes for the freezing ice), because Stu and Didi fell asleep during the show and Lou was too engrossed in it. To make a long story short, if they weren't in a cartoon, all four/six of them would be ''[[TooDumbToLive DEAD]]'' due to the neglect their parents give them.
* Homer Simpson of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is a close second for king of this trope, although to his credit he finally cleans up his act in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie''.
** This was poked fun at in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E22BehindTheLaughter Behind the Laughter]]", where the RunningGag of an angry Homer choking was a left-in ad-lib casually described as a surprisingly amusing act of child abuse.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has a loving family. However, he doesn't go to school, despite being twelve at the start. He apparently has never even ''heard'' of school and neither have the Gems. WordOfGod is he's homeschooled but he still doesn't seem to have any formal education.

* Sari Sumdac of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''. Despite being the daughter of a very prominent businessman, no one in the bureaucracy has ever picked up on the fact that she ''legally doesn't exist''. Moreover, when her father goes missing, not only is there no attempt to provide her with an adult guardian, but she's ''thrown out of her home'' by the business's new CEO. It's okay, though, because she moves in with a bunch of giant alien robots with no legal status on Earth. Yeaaaah.

** It's not that there's no child services, they even moved the kids when they suspected severe abuse on both parents' ends, it's just that things worked out and most of the neglect and abuse are for the sake of a gag, while plot-wise Homer does take care of his children and he will bond with Bart when they both decide to not mess with each other.
** In a specific example, in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]", part of Frank Grimes ridiculously miserable backstory involved being abandoned by his parents at age four and thus never having the money to go to school; instead having to spend his childhood working by delivering toys, he never got to play with, to [[SpoiledBrat rich children.]] In real life, children are mandated by law to go school, and child labor would prevent a four-year-old from being made to work.

** Pretty much every adult is a complete idiot who barely supervises their kids at all. Well, except for Butters' family: his parents are ''[[{{Jerkass}} completely]] [[AbusiveParents abusive]] [[HateSink assholes]]'' who psychologically mistreat him, [[DisproportionateRetribution ground him for the smallest mistakes he makes]], even when they are things outside of Butters' control, and who have viciously beat him on at least one occasion.

* Just how the hell did Mr. and Mrs. Turner in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' leave their son in the hands of a sadistically evil babysitter and be oblivious to the fact that she's, well, evil? And they still neglect him when home.
** Granted, Timmy's misery is the reason that he gets [[TheOmnipotent fairy godparents]], but it's not like his parents know that. And what about the other kids Vicky babysits or often meets? And her poor little sister...

* Pretty much every adult in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' is an idiot who barely supervises their kids at all. Well, except for Butters' family: his parents are ''[[{{Jerkass}} completely]] [[AbusiveParents abusive]] [[HateSink assholes]]'' who psychologically mistreat him, [[DisproportionateRetribution ground him for the smallest mistakes he makes]], even when they are things outside of Butters' control, and who have viciously beat him on at least one occasion.

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* While they did exist, social services didn't do anything for Toki throughout the time she was abused in ''[[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/art/Flashbacks-I-Alone-and-Frail-334638145 Flashbacks I]]'' until she was taken to the hospital for leukemia and even then Kaeda got off free for her crimes, as she was only charged in neglect. To make it worse, shortly after, she was sent back to live with her, despite that.
** Considering that, in Toki's universe, there are plenty of orphans running around, one would think social services doesn't exist or that said orphans "fell through the cracks".

* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'': While Syaoran had a butler in the anime to watch over him during his stay in Japan, he lived on his own in the manga.

* In Manga/IronWokJan, Jan was raised by his grandfather to become a master chef. His training methods included ''slamming him against a boiling hot steamer if he kept tofu boiling for longer than a minute''. He also would beat the ever-loving hell out of him with his cane, to the point where Jan's back is covered with scars (which at one point clues his rival in to the nature of his upbringing). It's also heavily implied than Jan never went to school, just lived with his grandfather learning how to cook.

* In ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'', Johnny is the only person even ''trying'' to take care of Squee, and he's a SerialKiller.
-->They aren't bad people. They love me. They don't really mean it when they tell me to get kidnapped.
* Billy Batson, aka the first [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]], was thrown into the street by his uncle after his parents died, said uncle keeping Billy's inheritance for himself. At least his sister Mary ended up in an orphanage. After Billy became Captain Marvel, he managed to get around the subject by simply transforming into the Captain, putting on a fancy suit, and pretending to be his own uncle. It doesn't hurt that in his Captain Marvel form, Billy resembles his dad, so it's easy to pass off.
** Averted in the ComicBook/New52 reboot, which saw Billy bouncing in and out of foster care several times for being a troublemaker before being put with the Vasquezes and becoming Shazam.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Okay, so it's many years ago and it might have been necessary but you would have thought that some nice person in a state somewhere would have been worried about the two young Winchester boys moving around everywhere and acting too old for their ages. Especially as their father is often drunk/neglectful/absent. And ''especially'' as their mother died when they both were very young. Although the frequent moves and constant use of fake [=IDs=] probably helped keep Child Services from ever catching up.
* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' Based on the descriptions that the Bundy children give of their childhoods, it's a miracle that Peggy wasn't arrested for neglect. Not that Al does much either, but at least he has the excuse of being at the shoe store all day...
* Played with in ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', where social services do exist, but the system is far from perfect and it suffers from many limitations such as dwindling budget, lack of manpower, and outdated/incorrect data. Many times the detectives stumble across a case that social services really should have picked up on, but the victims unfortunately fall through the cracks in the system.
* Mentioned early on in [[Series/LawAndOrder the original series]] as well. Logan chews out a social worker for not following up on a months-old report of child abuse, and she replies by showing him her computer to give him an idea of how big their "active file" really is. To Logan's credit, he does apologize, and there turns out to be [[FreudianExcuse a very good reason]] why he's taking this case so personally.
* Sam's mom on ''Series/ICarly'' should've had Sam taken away from her on general principle after one of her many dangerous or neglectful episodes.

* Subverted in ''Series/{{JAG}}'', when Harmon Rabb seeks to be the guardian to Matilda "Mattie" Grace in season 9: because social services are very thorough.
* Beacon Hills on ''Series/TeenWolf''. Isaac's parents are dead, he is still a minor and attending high school, but it is unstated who his legal guardian is, and he alternates between living with Derek or Scott. Boyd disappears for several months, only to return to school and nobody seems to investigate what happened. Erica likewise disappears and does not return at all. Also a possible case of InvisibleParents and/or ParentalObliviousness.
* A borderline example might be the Barone family in ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'', who leave their adult sons full of complexes and neuroses after a hit-and-miss upbringing. Marie and Frank combine MyBelovedSmother with an emotionally illiterate father and play favorites to such an extent that you wonder if Social Services might at least have placed Robert and Ray on an at-risk register...
-->SUCK IT UP!
** An aversion is at least alluded to in one episode, wherein Debra and Ray (through [[PoorCommunicationKills poor communication]]) both leave the house on separate errands and leave their twin sons alone; when they realize, they rush home to find the daughter has returned home from a friend's house and is taking care of the boys. Marie notes that if not for the daughter, Debra "would be facing jail time."

* ''Series/GinnyAndGeorgia'': PlayedWith as many fans wondered when [=DCS=] would show up, however, while Georgia may ''seem'' emotionally neglectful, she's never actually abusive and her kids are the center of her world. Still, it's odd after things such as Georgia having unsecured guns in the house, no one (not even her bitter enemy Cynthia) calls [=DCS=] on her.

* Children and ''Franchise/SilentHill'' do not mix well. [[VideoGame/SilentHill1 Alessa]] was emotionally and physically abused by basically everyone in her life, [[VideoGame/SilentHill2 Angela]] was repeatedly raped by her father, Laura is a (possibly homeless) orphan whose best chance for adoption was a terminally ill, bed-ridden woman who died a few weeks later, [[VideoGame/SilentHill4 the children at Wish House]] were systematically abused for brainwashing purposes, and [[VideoGame/SilentHillHomecoming the Shepard, Holloway, Fitch, and Bartlett families]] [[spoiler:murder one of their children each generation]]. Needless to say (but it will be said anyway) social services is nowhere to be seen.
* In ''VideoGame/{{The Sims 1}}'', the Social Worker would come to pick up a baby who was starving, but wouldn't do anything about a school-age kid who was orphaned (or an all-child "family" that the player could create) -- the kids couldn't even call one in if the house still had a phone. In ''VideoGame/{{The Sims 2}}'', they shaped up somewhat, but they became a little over-responsive. They can take a child if they get a bad grade in school, so it's not much of an improvement. Luckily, ''VideoGame/{{The Sims 3}}'' seems to have fixed all of the problems with the social workers and children, but they won't do anything about teenagers though. Teens can starve to death and [[MinorLivingAlone live alone]], despite only being around 14 to 16 years old.
** The teen example is justified; teens can cook, clean, hold down a job, drive, and care for younger sims; the social workers don't ''need'' to intervene since they can take care of themselves and any kids in the household. The same is true for child sims in Sims 1.

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
** When Miles Edgeworth's father was murdered in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', he was almost immediately adopted by Manfred von Karma, [[spoiler: the guy who killed his father in the first place.]] Did no one object to a ten-year-old being taken off to Germany by a man he'd never met?
** And no justification for Trucy Wright in ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney''. [[spoiler: She's an eight-year-old who's almost immediately adopted by an out of work disbarred attorney whose only tie to her is that he was her father's lawyer. At fifteen she's helping to support the family by performing magic acts around town. Phoenix mentions that there's no one else to take care of her, as her entire family is dead/missing except for an uncle who's in police custody at the time. He offers to look after her, and she accepts happily, and what with him being a former lawyer could probably get legal guardianship legally.]]
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' has Anise [[spoiler:being TheMole for Mohs because of her parents being too dim-witted to realize that their gullibility with their finances qualifies as FinancialAbuse.]] However, social services probably don't exist due to the Score being in place and all.
* ''VideoGame/RuleOfRose'': It's set in the rural English countryside in the 1930s, but it's still pretty amazing that nobody in the nearby villages noticed that the orphanage had gone ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' and all the adults had disappeared.
** Martha (before she disappeared) ''did'' realize something was up and contacted the police, but they dismiss her concerns.

* Several substories in ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' follow a girl forced to work outside in freezing temperatures to try and keep her mother's bookstore afloat instead of being in school, and dealing with two gremlin children who actively interfere with the crime scene the protagonist has to investigate when they're not interfering with every resident on the block. The latter substory can result in the detective stealing drugs from one of the kids' drug-addict dad, possibly to give to the kid (who is a drug addict as well). Commentary from your police partner on the inability to really do anything for the latter two kids shows how much of a CrapsackWorld the land of Revachol is in after a massive world war it is still recovering from decades later.

* This is the only explanation for Namine, Sora, and Riku (presumably teenager aged) even being on ''Webcomic/AnsemRetort''. Social Services should have been on FOX's asses the ''minute'' Kairi (another teen) [[spoiler: was killed by a demon.]]