Parent

The gametes of a parent result in a child, a male through the sperm, and a female through the ovum.

Orphans without adoptive parents can be raised by their grandparents or other family members.

[1][2][3] Examples of third biological parents include instances involving surrogacy or a third person who has provided DNA samples during an assisted reproductive procedure that has altered the recipients' genetic material.

Although not constituting completely reliable evidence, several congenital traits such as attached earlobes, a widow's peak, or the cleft chin, may serve as tentative indicators of (non-) parenthood as they are readily observable and inherited via autosomal-dominant genes.

A more reliable way to ascertain parenthood is via DNA analysis (known as genetic fingerprinting of individuals), although older methods have included ABO blood group typing, analysis of various other proteins and enzymes, or using human leukocyte antigens.

The current techniques for paternity testing are using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism.

Some jurisdictions allow a parent of a child to exercise the authority of a legal guardian without a formal court appointment.

Parenting refers to the aspects of raising a child aside from the biological relationship.

[12][13] The professionals and the major associations now agree there is a well-established and accepted consensus in the field that there is no optimal gender combination of parents.

[17] For example, in some bird species, although parents often lay two eggs and attempt to raise two or more young, the strongest fledgling takes a greater share of the food brought by parents and will often kill the weaker sibling, an act known as siblicide.

The placenta, for example, secretes allocrine hormones that decrease the sensitivity of the mother to insulin and thus make a larger supply of blood sugar available to the fetus.