Terms & Abbreviations to Know

Many adoptees have both positive and negative relations to various terms within the community. These are only basic definitions that do not encompass the many different beliefs or explanations that also come to mind.

A common example used is Got ya’ day. It can be a positive connotation for many in relation to being adopted by a loving family. Others view it as a negative term because it sounds like they were picked up or gotten like an object regardless of a loving family.

• Adoptee Triad

  • Often presented as a triangle with each poin respectively representing the adoptee, birth parents and adoptive parents

• TRA

  • Transracial adoptee, an adoptee with adoptive parents of another biological race from themselves

• TRIA

  • Transracial International Adoptee, an adoptee permanently, legally raised in another country other than that of their biological ancestry

• Diaspora

  • Dispersion and spread of a group people

• Journey

  • A collective term used within the diaspora: in reference to adoption as a whole. Including thoughts, emotions, people, adoptive family, biological family and so much more.

• Ghost (self or life)

  • Typically used in recreation to a self or life that could have been. For example, if an adoptee stayed in their birth country or was never adopted they may refer to their ghost self.

• Cohort

  • In the adoption community a group of close adoptees such as those adopted on the same day

• Finding location / date

  • When a ‘lost’ child is ‘found’ at a given location and determined an orphan soon after

• Got ‘ya day / adoption day

  • The day a child is adopted or brought home

• Out of quota pregnancy or child

  • In reference to an unregistered second (or more) child during the one child policy in China

• A Family (A mother, A Father, A Brother, A Sister …. etc)

  • Shorthand for adoptive family

• B family (B mother, B Father, B Brother, B Sister …. etc)

  • Shorthand for biological family

• AP

  • Adoptive Parent

• BP

  • Birth Parent

• WAPs

  • White Adoptive Parent

• HAPs

  • Hopeful Adoptive Parents

• Homeland (trip)

  • Country, toen location of biological ancestry, an adoptee led trip

• Heritage (trip)

  • An adoptee with family/ friends trip intending for adoptee to return to homeland to connect culturally/ biologically

• POC

  • People of Color

• AAPI

  • Asian and Pacific Islander

• BIPOC

  • Black, Indigenous, People of Color

• FFY

  • Former Foster Youth

• FP

  • Foster Parent

• KOC

  • Kids of Color

• KAD

  • Korean adoptee

• WP

  • White Passing or White Presenting

• OBC

  • Original Birth Certificate

• YT

  • White

• LDA

  • Late Discovery Adoptee

• ABC

  • American Born Chinese