Adoption Language

Correct Adoption Terminology

Words not only convey facts they also evoke feelings. For example, when a TV or movie talks about a 'custody battle' between 'real parents' and 'other parents' this reinforces the inaccurate notion that only birth parents are real parents and that adoptive parents aren’t real parents. Members of society may also wrongly conclude that all adoptions are 'battles.'
Accurate adoption language can stop the spread of misconceptions such as these. By using accurate language, we educate others about adoption. We choose emotionally ‘correct’ words over emotionally-laden words. We speak and write in appropriate adoption language with the hopes of influencing others so that this language will someday be the norm.

Accurate Language/Inaccurate Language

Birthparent/Real parent, natural parent

My child/Adopted child

Choosing an adoption plan/Giving away, Giving up your child

Finding a family to parent your child/Putting your child up for adoption

Deciding to parent the child/Keeping your baby

Individual who was adopted/Adoptee

To parent/To keep

Child in need of a family/Adoptable child; Available child

Parent/Adoptive parent

International or intercountry adoption/Foreign adoption

Child who has special needs/Handicapped child, hard to place

Child from another country/Foreign child

Was adopted/Is adopted

Birthrelative/Blood relative

Ohio does me Proud

Ohio State Budget Contains Funds for Abortion Alternative Program for College StudentsColumbus, OH (LifeNews.com) -- The new Ohio state budget the legislature there is working on contains a new abortion alternatives program for pregnant and parenting students in college. It has the support of pro-life groups who hope to provide financial, pregnancy and other resources for the age group of people who most often have abortions. The pilot program to provide support services was included in the budget bill Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed on June 30. The budget provision would appropriate $50,000 in Fiscal Year 2009 for the Ohio Department of Health to make a grant or grants to up to four Ohio colleges to help establish an office to support pregnant and parenting students. The pilot program was added to the budget in the Ohio House as the result of efforts led by Rep. Shannon Jones, a Republican lawmaker. The program to encourage colleges to establish offices to assist pregnant and parenting students was one of the key items on Ohio Right to Life’s legislative agenda for the current session of the Ohio General Assembly. “Many pregnant college students choose abortion because they feel that their only other option is to drop out of school. They are often not aware of all of the support services that are available from various providers both on and off campus,” the group told LifeNews.com in a statement. “The pregnant and parenting student services office would help to remedy this problem.” Under the requirements of the bill, the on-campus pregnant and parenting student office would assess the college’s performance in offering student health insurance that includes coverage for prenatal and postpartum care and riders for children, and provide assistance in locating services or items that are available both on and off campus to meet the needs of pregnant and parenting students, including family housing, child care; flexible or alternative academic scheduling; education concerning responsible parenting and healthy marriages; maternity and baby clothing, baby food, and baby furniture. “We are pleased that the Ohio General Assembly has taken this positive step to help college students make the choice for life,” ORTL director Denise Mackura concluded.

Dogs More Important Than Moms, Babies

LifeNews.com 7/6/07

North Carolina Residents Upset Dogs More Important Than Moms, Babies

Raleigh, NC (Lifenews.com) -- Residents of North Carolina join pro-life groups in being upset about how a bill to protect police dogs has sailed through the legislature while another to give protection and justice for pregnant women and their unborn children has stalled. The father of a young, pregnant mom found stabbed to death says he does not understand. The law enforcement animal has new protection with a new law. In a nutshell, the law says kill a police dog, and go to jail. But that's hard to swallow for the father of a pregnant woman who was stabbed to death in Raleigh last month. Jenna Nielson was eight months pregnant with a boy she planned to name Ethen. "I just don't understand why you would pass a law for a dog, but not a child," said Kevin Blaine, Jenna Nielson's father. North Carolina law does not allow two murder charges for the death of a pregnant mother. Some lawmakers have introduced a bill to change that, but it's bottled up in a committees as abortion advocates have opposed it. "This was a murder," Blaine told ABC News. "This had nothing to do with abortion or any of the other things that may be clouding this issue up."