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A phrase in wide popular use to indicate the birthparents of an adopted child. It alludes to shared genetic descent. This label is particularly disliked by most adoptive parents who feel it denigrates and verbally invalidates their relationship to the child.
The term is also technically incorrect, because parental rights, obligations and activities have been transferred in the case of adoption.
As a result, most adoptive parents and adoption experts advise the words "birthparents" or "biological parents" (or, less frequently, "genetic parents") be used when referring to the man and woman who conceived the adopted child.
Find more information on "real parents"
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©2000 by Christine Adamec and William Pierce, Ph.D. Reprinted from The Encyclopedia of Adoption, 2nd Edition (2nd Edition) with permission of Facts On File, Inc.
