That was part of my point that a lot of Kane was based on Welles rather than Hearst. Hearst had a happy childhood and a very close relationship with his mother. If anything, Hearst was something of a “momma’s boy” who was smothered by maternal love. And he certainly wasn’t abandoned as a child by his mother: Hearst was 56 when his mother died.
It was Welles who lacked for maternal love. His mother was a brilliant artist but she apparently was distant as a mother. And whatever connection existed was severed when she died when Welles was only nine years old. It was Welles not Hearst who pined for a lost childhood.