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A Handy Guide to Those Mysterious Blended Family Acronyms!
The online world of stepfamily support throws around so many acronyms, it’s like learning a whole different language. Once you’ve learned it though, you’ll be a pro-level stepparent, true insider, all-around cool person, and — most importantly! — won’t get all lost and confused when you’re checking out my Q&A sessions over on Instagram.
Until then, here’s a quick reference list for most commonly used blended family acronyms:
BD = Bio dad or bio daughter, depending on context
BF = Boyfriend
BM = Biological mom
BP = Biological parent
BS = Biological son
CO = Custody order and/or visitation schedule according to the official court paperwork
CP = Custodial parent
CPS = Child protective services
CS = Child support
DD = Dear/darling/direct daughter (sometimes used instead of BD)
DF = Dear/darling fiancé/fiancée
DH = Dear/darling husband
DS = Dear/darling/direct son (sometimes used instead of BS)
DW = Dear/darling wife
EOW = Every other week/weekend, referring to the visitation schedule (sometimes these are separated as EOW = every other week and EOWE = every other weekend)
FH/FW = Future husband/wife
GAL = Guardian ad litem
GF = Girlfriend
HC = High conflict
HCBD = High-conflict biological dad
HCBM = High-conflict biological mom (be sure to check out our high conflict resources if you’ve got one of these! 😱)
HCex = High conflict ex
HCP = High-conflict parent/person
MIL/FIL/SIL/BIL = Mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law (respectively)
MW = Mini wife
NB = Non-binary (so “NBSK” would be a non-binary stepkid)
NCP = Non-custodial parent
OH = Other half
OFW = Our Family Wizard, a co-parenting app
PAS = Parental alienation syndrome - you may also sometimes see “ASD/ASS” standing for “alienated stepdaughter/alienated stepson”
PC = Parenting coordinator
RO = Restraining order
ROFR = Right of first refusal
SD = Stepdad or stepdaughter, depending on context
SF = Stepfather
SK = Stepkid(s)
SM = Stepmom
SO = Significant other
SS = Stepson
STBX = Soon-to-be ex
Other notes on stepfamily acronyms
If you see one of the kid abbreviations with a number next to it, like SS7 or BD12, that indicates the kid's age. So SS7 = 7-year-old stepson and BD12 = 12-year-old biological daughter.
Sometimes people will write 'BD' and 'BS' to indicate 'bonus daughter/son' but most online groups discourage this. Just gets too confusing, especially if the original poster ("OP," for anyone looking for yet more acronyms) didn't clarify to begin with.
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