[Mr. Marshmallow]

I doubt Mac's father died because it just doesn't seem to fit in with all of the other suggestions floating around. We have this impression so far:

-Mac's mom is rarely home
-Mac's apartment has had problems before
-Mac's mom tries hard to be supportive to Mac
-Mac's mom works hard and as Wilt said doesn't have time to clean

The way I see it, Mac's mom works either a very difficult or time consuming job, or works more then one job and is trying to support Mac all by herself. The way she acts towards Mac seems to me that she is trying hard to be a good single parent.

She's aware of how Terrance acts towards him and despite her feelings towards getting rid of Bloo, seems very considerate and concerned for Mac and him having a good life. I suspect their father walked out on them. Something about that just sounds more accurate then divorce.

Other reason I say that is because, this may explain why Terrance is such a jack ass. Consider this: Mac looks just like his mom, Terrance looks like NEITHER, Terrance also acts totally different far as attitudes and facially in comparison to his family.

Now that may make him a black sheep, but I think it's more likely that Terrance looks more like his father and that his bad attitude may came from the father as well. Frankie's is hard to say because aside from Madame Foster and Frankie graduating from college, we know JACK about Frankie's past.

My theory is that Frankie was either abandoned by her parents, or they died. Something tells me she's been raised by Madame Foster for a LOOOONG time now, and I think that shows in her relationship with Madame Foster. They seem to know each other better then the average mom/daughter relationship.

I also think that if Frankie's parents are dead or gone, they might have put her in a foster home or maybe she's been in an orphanage or something before. That would make sense and kind of tie in to her dedication to Foster's, perhaps feeling a sense of "Hey, i've been where you are".

Anyways, those are my theories and ideas behind the mysterious parent figures of Fosters......actually now that you think about it, cartoons have never been good at explaining parents. Duck Tales, Darkwing Duck, Ben 10, Sailor Moon, they BARELY explain anything relating to their parents.