Essay Topic Hub

Parent
Essays

3,584+ paper examples, study guides & outlines

3,584 papers
UG & Grad levels
Free to browse
What is Parent?

Parenthood sits at the intersection of sociology, law, psychology, family studies, and public policy, making it a versatile subject across undergraduate and graduate curricula. Courses in child development, family law, social work, and ethics all treat the parent-child relationship as a foundational unit of analysis. What makes the topic academically compelling is its reach: questions about who qualifies as a parent, what responsibilities parents hold, and how family structure shapes child outcomes connect deeply personal experience to institutional and legal frameworks. Concepts such as parens patriae, parental alienation syndrome, and vicarious liability illustrate how legal systems define and regulate parental roles, while debates over mandatory vaccination and gay adoption push the topic into contested ethical territory.

Student papers on this subject take a wide range of approaches. Comparative analyses weigh outcomes for children raised in single-parent versus two-parent households. Policy-focused essays examine whether the state should mandate medical decisions like vaccination or intervene through "get tough" legal movements. Case-study and legal analysis papers explore doctrines such as parental alienation syndrome from a family systems perspective or trace liability questions through specific court scenarios. Other papers take a more personal, experiential angle, examining what it means to balance work and parenting in daily life, or analyze family communication tools used in educational settings.

A strong essay on a parenting topic begins with a clearly bounded thesis — arguing a specific claim about policy, relationship dynamics, or legal responsibility rather than surveying the subject broadly. Evidence drawn from peer-reviewed developmental research, legal precedent, or documented case studies carries the most weight. The most common pitfall is conflating personal anecdote with scholarly argument; emotional resonance can support an essay, but it should reinforce evidence-based claims rather than substitute for them.

3,584 papers
Sort by:
Paper Undergraduate
Student placement experience at St. Joseph Orphanage in Nigeria
The objective of this work is to examine the experience of students on the NGO placement in Nigeria. The NGO at focus is that of St. Joseph Orphanage and Women Development Center. The writer of this work was provided with an excellent opportunity to exam the organization chart and policy of the non-governmental and non-profit organization. In addition, the writer of this work was provided with insight on how the organization raises money to finance and sustain its diverse projects in Nigeria. During the course of job placement of this researcher with this NGO organization, and specifically St. Joseph Women Development and orphanage center it was amazing to realize that Media and Communication organizations play a significant role in the promotion and creation of community awareness and awareness on the national level. Consideration of the barriers that were encountered during the job placement includes those related to language and tradition, which is an effective hindrance when one, is assigned to work in a region such as the northern part of Nigeria where approximately 90% of the population is Muslim.
Paper Undergraduate
David Pelzer's "The Lost Boy" and the foster care system's response to child abuse
David Pelzer's autobiography The Lost Boy (1997) is a very moving and disturbing account of his childhood experiences of severe abuse by his mother and abandonment by his father. He was removed from his mother's custody at age 12 by Child Protective Services and ended up in a series of foster homes for the next six years. He rarely spent more than a few months in each one, and did not receive the necessary psychological counseling that would have helped him resolve the issues of abuse and abandonment. Although David was grateful to the foster care system and believed it had literally saved his life, he recognized that it was often overwhelmed with the sheer volume of abuse cases and lacked a sufficient number of social workers and foster homes. On the whole, though, he was very satisfied with the social worker who saved him from his alcoholic and violently abusive mother and certain that she was a very caring individual. Had the system identified this abuse sooner instead of sending him back to his mother, he would certainly have been better off, but whether his severely disturbed mother would have benefited from treatment is more problematic. Essentially, the system worked by removing this child from the home but failed in certain important areas of follow up as he was passed from one foster home to another. He became very isolated and alienated, did poorly in school, and failed to make emotional bonds with any of his peers. Fortunately, though, David was particularly resilient and was able to obtain a GED at age 18 and then enlisted in the Air Force.
Research Paper Doctorate
Racial disparities in American capital punishment and criminal justice
Racism has always been a defining feature of the American criminal justice system, including racial profiling, disparities in arrests convictions and sentencing between minorities and whites, and in the use of the death penalty. Racial profiling against blacks, immigrants and minorities has always existed in the American criminal justice system, as has the belief that minorities in general and blacks in particular are always more likely to commit crimes. American society and its legal system were founded on white supremacy going back to the colonial period, and critical race criminology would always consider these historical factors as well as the legal means to counter them.
Essay Doctorate
Health consequences for children of parents with substance abuse disorders
The objective of this study is to identify a high-risk family group and for this purpose, the problem of drug abuse has been chosen. This work will describe the assessment of this family type through use of change theory and structural functional theory and identify the Healthy People 2020 objectives. This study will further describe nursing intervention strategies applicable to this family situation based on health promotion including health belief models, family theory and analysis of family function that are supported by literature and research. This work will also describe the role of the advanced practice nurse as case manager in this type of nursing situation.
Paper Masters
Drug and alcohol use among teenagers and young adults
Literature Review Although there have been many significant achievements in drug abuse prevention over the past few decades, drug use among youth continues to be a leading health risk. Alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use have had an extraordinary impact on morbidity and mortality of youth. The cost of negative outcomes attributed to adolescent drug use affects nearly half a million individuals annually (Peterson, 2010). Economic costs of the use of alcohol tobacco and other drugs by youth were estimated to reach $484 billion in 2004 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004). In the current essay the author will discuss problem of drug and alcohol use among teenagers and youth of 18-25 years old. The author has reviewed twelve research study on the drug and alcohol use among the teenagers and adults between the ages of 18-25.
Paper Doctorate
Social stratification and class systems in the United States
This is the hierarchical way in which large social groups based on their control over basic resources. A key characteristic of stratification systems is the extent to which the structure is flexible. Slavery, a form of stratification in which people are owned by others, is a extreme type. In a caste system, people's status is determined at birth based on their parents' position in society
Essay Undergraduate
Communication failure between Connie and her parents in Oates' story
"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates depicts the rape and possible murder of a young girl who has been innocently yet provocatively displaying her sexuality. This paper analyzes the story from a literary and a psychological perspective to show how more effective communication strategies between Connie and her parents could have prevented the tragedy.
Paper Doctorate
Abuse and intervention in Dave Pelzer's "A Child Called It"
Child maltreatment entails all types of neglect and abuse of a child below eighteen years by caregivers, parents or any other person the media highlight numerous stories of children suffering severely in the hands of their caregivers and parents .The paper will also identify the abuse highlighted in the book and the intervention strategies used to protect the child in question from further maltreatment."A Child Called It" is a book that records the memorable account of a most severe child abuse case. The book highlights a jerking factual story of one child who lived in starvation, torture and cruelty from his alcoholic and emotionally unstable mother. Dave's story details a harrowing existence.
Essay Undergraduate
Phonemic awareness and phonics in early elementary balanced literacy
Phonemic awareness and phonics are two components of a balanced literacy program in K – 3 classrooms. Phonemic awareness is the understanding that words are made of sounds. Phonics builds on this awareness by teaching the relationships between sounds and letter-symbols. Research supports direct instruction of these components as a precursor to reading success. Commercially-published programs and books, software and apps, and numerous Internet sources can provide teachers with materials needed for a strong program of direct, explicit instruction. Kindergarten programs level attempt to level the playing field, as students begin school at various stages of reading readiness. Phonics builds on early phonemic awareness activities. By the time students are in third grade, they are starting to "read to learn" instead of "learning to read."
Paper Undergraduate
Palliative care: principles and practice
Palliative care entails assisting patients get through pain caused by different diseases. The patient may be ailing from any diseases, be it curable or untreatable. Palliative care helps the patients learn and explore symptoms related to the diseases they suffer from. Palliative care is another way to offer moral support to the people facing legal as well as ethical The palliative care methods are in categories that differ depending on the condition of the patient, the state of disease he or she is suffering from and the age of the patient.There are legal standards that are being used in the United States to help sustain the lives of young children. Teams in health care facilities have improved their palliative care standards. This shows that the department dealing with palliative care in a country like Canada is efficient in the role-play.