Also some people don't have parents. But your family doesn't have to be the one you're born with. There are lots of families who have taken in one of their children's friends as a virtual child to rescue them from a bad situation. I'd assumed that most families have members who aren't actually related by blood or marriage. In my family, they end up being "uncles" and "aunts," but started off as "play-cousins" and "play-children." Maybe it's a black thing.