You describe children as fatherless when their father has died or does not live with them.
例句
...widows and fatherless children...孤儿寡母They were left fatherless.他们成了没有父亲的孩子。
英汉词典释义
adj.
无父的
This endurance made old Earnshaw furious, when he discovered his son persecuting the poor, fatherless child, as he called him.当老恩萧发现他的儿子这样虐待他所谓的可怜的孤儿时,这种逆来顺受使老恩萧冒火了。
英英词典释义
Adjective
1. having no living father
2. not having a known or legally responsible father