Both parents must cover North American state (6)
I believe the answer is:
panama
'both parents must cover' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'north american state' is the wordplay.
'north' becomes 'pan' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'state' becomes 'ma' (abbreviation for Massachusetts).
'pan'+'a'+'ma'='PANAMA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for panama that I've seen before include "'Country, canal and hat (6)'" , "Central American country" , "American canal or kind of hat" , "Canal state; hat" , "Great canal connecting Atlantic and Pacific" .)