Birth mother/biological mother亲生母亲

Dean

I read news on Washington post and i came across some words that i like to share with you. They are birth mother or biological mother. A birth mother refers to a woman who gives birth to her children. The opposite word is adoptive mother养母. It means the woman doesn't give birth to the children. She just performs the role of raising the children. Certainly we have birth or biological father and adoptive father. Here is the news about a woman found her birth mother in an unlikely location: her office.  
For years, La-Sonya Mitchell-Clark has had a burning question about her identity.
“Ever since I found out that I was adopted抱养, I wanted to know who my biological mother was,”  Mitchell-Clark, of Youngstown, Ohio, told ABC affiliate WYTV.
When the Ohio Department of Health released birth records last month for those born between Jan. 1, 1964, and Sept. 18, 1996, the 38-year-old thought she might have a shot of answering that question once and for all彻底地，一次了结地.
For more detail of the news pls click http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/18/this-woman-found-birth-mother-in-an-unlikely-location-her-office/?hpid=z4

Dean

Birth Mother/Father, 生母/生父
Adoptive Mother/Father, 养母/养父（过继）
Step Mother/Father, 养母/养父（养育）
Foster Mother/Father, 继母/继父
Adoptive: 从法律上讲，孩子和收养家庭有正式收养关系时，养父母被称为Adoptive parents。
Foster：孩子和收养家庭无正式收养关系，只是暂时寄住在养父母家，时间可以是几个星期到几年，但孩子的正式抚养权仍在他的亲生父母或孤儿院那里，他们可以随时领回孩子。西方很多国家为了保护儿童，在处理问题家庭时，经常会暂时把孩子送到环境良好的家庭寄养，然后视其亲生父母的表现再做下一步决定。很多孩子的foster parents后来取得抚养权而成为adoptive parents。另外有些福利机构为了考察一个家庭是否适合收养某个儿童时，也是让有意收养的家庭先作Foster family, 如果孩子在这个家庭受到良好的照顾，再考虑给他们正式抚养权。所以Adoptive parents译成”正式养父母“，foster parents译为”临时养父母“。

Dean

What Are Foster Families?
The word "foster" means to help someone (or something) grow and develop. It also means to take care of someone's needs. Foster parents, then, are people — other than a kid's parents — who provide a safe place for kids to be cared for. They take kids into their homes and let them stay for a while.

Kids can do a lot of things for themselves, but they also need someone to take care of them. Kids need a house, a place to sleep, nutritious food to eat, clothes to wear, and toys to play with. Kids also need someone who will take them to the doctor and dentist, make sure they get a bath, and get them up in the morning so they get to school. And just as important, kids need someone who loves them and does not hurt or abuse them.

Most of the time, kids live in homes where they are loved and get all the important things they need. But if a kid's mom or dad can't provide proper care or is hurting or abusing the kid, the state needs to step in and place the child in another home. It's often not forever, but until the child's parents or another relative can care for him or her properly. It might be just for overnight, or it might be for a few months or several years.
http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/home_family/foster_familie...