bonus father

plural bonus fathers

1. A man who serves in a fatherly role to a child who has a different biological father, with or without formally marrying the child’s other parent and becoming a stepfather or going through the formal process of adoption.

   Several approaches work well. A father and bonus father may walk on either side of the bride.

   2026 June 3, Jann Blackstone, “Part 4: Managing Special Occasions and Child-Centered Milestones”, in Co-Parenting for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, →ISBN, page 292

   2 more examples

   Melin talks about his own biological father becoming a fine grandfather, and his “bonus father” functioning as a role model for his own parenting but also establishes that the “bonus father” can never take the place of the “real father”…

   [2016 January 13, Helena Walström Henriksson, “I: Pappahandbooks: Guidebooks for Dads in Twenty-First Century Sweden”, in Andrea Doucet, editor, Pops in Pop Culture:Fatherhood, Masculinity, and the New Man, Palgrave, →ISBN, page 44

   Establish clear and open communication with both your child’s biological father and any bonus father figures in your life.

   2025 April 4, Shanice Nicole Robinson, “Chapter 4: Prison to Parenthood: Raising Kids Behind Bars”, in The Gangsters Scholar: Love Behind Bars, page 124

   Synonyms: bonus dad