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.