CAFS terms HSC course

adoption

legally take (another's child) and bring it up as one's own.

fostering

look after or bring up (a child who is not one's own by birth) in one's home without becoming their legal parents.

step-parenting

a person who is married to or in a de facto relationship with the biological or adoptive parent of a child, but is not the child's biological parent.

surrogacy

an arrangement where a woman (the surrogate) carries a child for another person or couple (the intended parents) and agrees to give the baby to them after it is born. The intended parents are unable to have a child themselves and, in most modern cases, a gestational surrogate's pregnancy is achieved through IVF, using eggs and sperm from the intended parents or donors, meaning she has no genetic link to the child. 

pimary carer

informal carer 

formal carer