Eso es.

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Note added at 2 mins (2005-12-05 23:16:09 GMT)
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orphan's pension es una pensión de orfandad.

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Note added at 4 mins (2005-12-05 23:17:47 GMT)
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orphan's mother

Orphan's pension: 20% of the insured's pension for each orphan; 35% for a full orphan.

An orphan's mother who is ineligible for the widow's pension receives 35% of the insured's pension.

The maximum survivor pension is 85% of the insured's pension

Spanish term (edited): huerfano de madre

Following Henry's point, I would say the following: If you know the mother is dead, say: his mother is dead (or "his mother died"). If, however, all you know is that "there is no mother in the picture", then it is better simply to say "he has no mother" or "there is no mother".

Even though it is common usage, I don't care for "lost" in the context of "death". In a case in which the mother might still be alive, such usage would be positively bizarre (it would be more appropriate to say that the mother "lost" the child).

"Motherless" is really not often used in such a case. In describing such a child in a social services setting, one would typically say "he has no mother" or "there is no mother".

Good luck.

Hi Sandra,

I think the mother is dead, particularly because it says "no conoce a su padre". Also, I have always understood "huérfano" to mean someone whose mother, father or both have died. See the RAE´s definition. (http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltGUIBusUsual?TIPO_HTML=2&LEMA...

I have found one way of saying this in English, but it is not as commonly used as "huérfano de madre" is in Spanish.