Most people have a general understanding of what adoption is. Even if they don’t personally know anyone who was adopted or has adopted a child themselves, are likely familiar with the idea that adoption means a child was “given up” by their biological parent and is raised by their adoptive parent. With this general understanding of adoption comes common terms that people typically use when talking about it. We’ve already mentioned one, “giving up” a child, but there are many other sayings that are regularly used, like “real mom/real dad”, “put up for adoption”, or “gave away for adoption”.
Positive Adoption Language
