Parent

Parents, unlike children in the Rejuve universe are a very clear cut concept.

With the discovery of rejuvination there was suddenly and very troublesomely a massive need for parents for rejuvinated children and as some of these rejuves required special care the responsibiliy couldn't be left to just anybody. As such The Association of Professional Parenting was formed.

Association of Professional Parents
The Association of Professional Parents (APP) is a schooling organisation for parents intended to teach those wanting to become parents the basics, and set them up with children and practice scenarios. For many Rejuves, Rejuvenation is cheap, but a rejuve must post a bond sufficient to pay standard APP rates for them until the age of twenty-one, or else have someone register themselves as the responsible parent until they are twenty-one. APP rates do not reflect the full cost of a child, any more than modern foster care stipends do.

Even so, For many the road to become a parent is a long and useful one and with so many children resulting from the process of rejuvination it has become a necessary one.

How to Become a Parent
Frequently spouses undertake this task, although this is officially frowned on, as they then become single parents. Everyone who wants to eventually have real children will join APP and take on rejuves as caretakers, so they can get practical experience at parenting. This is required to get a child permit and you have to have a permit to have the Kensington treatment reversed.

To prevent overpopulation, childbirth is strictly licensed and regulated. You can always go off to the colonies, but the more developed ones all require the same training and licensing qualifications for parenthood as Earth; they just license multiple children. And the new, raw colonies have only very restricted rejuvenation facilities, and are very dangerous. Everyone has the reversible sterilization operation (called the Kensington treatment) performed on them shortly at eight to prevent accidental pregnancy. People still want the rewards of raising children, of helping a young person develop into a valuable adult. To qualify for a parenthood permit you need special training and you have to practice your parenting skills, to learn how to parent. There are sophisticated androids, of course, and they are very valuable, especially for newborn training, but it isn't the same. The age old question: how do you get hands-on parenting experience before you have children. Taking on rejuves as their parents is one way to get certified experience.

APP approved or Spanko
As are usually rejuved against their will for crimes and considered a 'flight risk' parents of freshly rejuved Pennies are usually required to be cared for by special parents.

In the rejuve verse there are two different classes of parents. Spanko parents and APP approved parents. Spanko parents are typically not parents that are part of the APP. They are not seeking to have children of their own and simply desire to look after and discipline children often taking some enjoyment out of giving punishments. Spanko Parents are individuals who get some gratification of enjoyment out of seeing somebody spanked and to a point this is necessary. With a high focus during the hard time of breaking the child from any bad habits, attitude problems or criminal behaviour, many hard time pennies will be punished and disciplined harshly. Society in the Lurking Dragon context mandate that pennies be punished and parents who were not comfortable with the idea of causing a child pain could easily become squeamish - especially with hard case criminals where reform is a long hard road.

Separate to this though are the members of the APP. Typically encountered during soft-time, once the penny has been broken of their bad or criminal behaviour and resigned themselves to their new childhood, APP members, are usually using soft timers as a right of passage to get their license in many cases using the process as a try before you buy system. Many times if a Soft Timer is paroled to they will stay with their last soft-time parents and become their child permanently (Although exceptions have been made both for the desires of the parents as well as to meet the pennies desires or needs).

One of the bigger divergence of the Lurking Dragon and Professor Bob continuums is who is permitted to raise a at any particular stage of their cycle.