A single parent usually refers to a parent who has most of the day to day responsibilities in the raising of the child or children, which would categorize them as the dominant caregiver who is not living with a spouse or partner, or those who are not married. The dominant caregiver is the parent in which the children have residency with the majority of the time; if the parents are separated or divorced children live with their custodial parent and have visitation with their noncustodial parent. In western society in general, following separation, a child will end up with the primary caregiver, usually the mother, and a secondary caregiver, usually the father.

Historically death of a partner was a major cause of single parenting. Single parenting can result from separation or divorce of a couple with children. Custody battles, awarded by the court or rationalized in other terms, determine who the child will spend majority of their time with, this affects children in many ways and there are many suggestions to counsel them. A mother is typically the primary caregiver in a single parent family structure as a result of divorce, unplanned pregnancy. Fathers have been less commonly primary caregiver in the past, presumably due to assumptions that a child from two separate parents is better off with the mother than the father, but this scenario has shifted in recent years. Single parent adoption is sometimes an option for adults who want children but do not have a partner.

Dean Cain (born Dean George Tanaka; July 31, 1966) is an American actor. He is most widely known for his role as Clark Kent/Superman in the popular American television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Cain was born as Dean George Tanaka in Mount Clemens, Michigan, the son of actress Sharon Thomas and U.S. Army serviceman Roger Tanaka, who left the family before he was born. Cain is of French Canadian, Irish, Welsh, and Japanese (from his paternal grandfather) descent. In 1969, Cain's mother married film director Christopher Cain, who adopted Dean and his brother (musician Roger Cain), and the family moved to Malibu, California. The couple later had a daughter, Dean's half-sister, actress Krisinda Cain. Both attended Santa Monica High School, where he excelled in sports.

He played on the baseball team, and Chad and Rob Lowe and Charlie Sheen—who played on the baseball team—were among his schoolmates. Cain graduated from high school in 1984 and was offered athletic scholarships to 17 universities, but decided to attend Princeton University.^{[citation needed]} At Princeton, he was captain of the volleyball team and played free safety on the football team, where he had record-setting 12 interceptions in a single season. He was also a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity and the Cap & Gown eating club.^{[citation needed]} He dated actress Brooke Shields while at Princeton. Cain graduated from Princeton in 1988 with a BA degree in History; his senior thesis was titled "The History and Development of the Functions of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences."