I guess it might be more difficult now what with the overall decline in active RPs, but I really wish more folks would try finding parents/cubs/mates through roleplaying instead of wandering around semi OOC and asking random people they find aesthetically appealing. One of my characters once adopted a cub completely by accident (I never intended him to have family; he is not the fatherly type) while in some pride in Fluorite. The pride ended up getting weird and we left it a long time ago, but those two characters have stayed together for probably two years now and multiple now-long-dead prides, and I ended up making a good friend as well. Honestly, having a genuine basis for RP relationships is underrated, and it's just hard to get that by walking up to someone and saying 'adopt me.'
I'm also strongly in favour of never making characters who must have a mate/pup/etc. to funtion properly in RPs (because what do you do with them if you don't find one or your RP partner isn't around?), but that's just a matter of personal preference.