You describe children as fatherless when their father has died or does not live with them.
例句
...widows and fatherless children...孤兒寡母They were left fatherless.他們成了沒有父親的孩子。
英漢詞典釋義
adj.
無父的
This endurance made old Earnshaw furious, when he discovered his son persecuting the poor, fatherless child, as he called him.當老恩蕭發現他的兒子這樣虐待他所謂的可憐的孤兒時，這種逆來順受使老恩蕭冒火了。
英英詞典釋義
Adjective
1. having no living father
2. not having a known or legally responsible father