biological
In the adoption community, the term biological is often used to describe a genetic relationship between individuals. Since all people are actually "biological," many prefer to use other words to describe these relations, such as "birth children" or "children who were born to you" instead of "your biological children."

biracial
An individual whose racial heritage includes two different races. When using this as a descriptive term, it is helpful to indicate what the two races are, e.g. biracial African American/Latino.

birth certificate (amended)
The document issued after a child has been adopted reflecting the adoptive parents as the child's parents.

birth certificate (original)
A certified document, usually obtained only through a government agency, which indicates the birth information of a person including mother's and father's name and the name given to the child at the time of birth, as well as the date and place of birth.

birthfamily, birth relatives
An individual's relatives by birth, as opposed to relatives in the family that adopted that individual. Birth families include extended families as well as birth parents and siblings.

birth order
The order in which children in a family were born. Each child has a place in the birth order (first child, youngest daughter, etc.) and adopting a child or children may change that order.

birthparent, birthmother, birthfather
The parents who gave birth to a child. In the adoption community, these terms usually refers to the parents who gave birth to a child, made an adoption plan for the child and subsequently relinquished the child for adoption.