| ACC | Australians Caring for Children |
| ACOB | Aid for the Children of Brazil |
| AFC | Australian Families for Children |
| AICAN | Australian Intercountry Adoption Network |
| ASIAC | Australian Society for Intercountry Aid for Children (NSW) |
| Ayudame | a private orphanage in Bogota, Colombia, licensed by ICBF to provide adoption services |
| Burgher | (in Sri Lanka) descended from mixed European (usually Dutch) and indigenous Sri Lankan ancestry |
| CARA | Central Adoption Resource Agency, the central adoption clearing house for the Indian Government |
| CASA | Chilean Adoption Support Association |
| Casita de Nicolas | a private orphanage in Medellin, Colombia, licensed by ICBF to provide adoption services |
| CEJA | a partly governmental, partly private tribunal involving State government officials, the courts, FEBEM and community experts (generally social workers) to process adoptions |
| Chiquitines Adopciones | a private orphanage in Cali, Colombia, licensed by ICBF to provide adoption services |
| CNI | Church of North India, an organisation which runs a private orphanage in New Delhi |
| CSS | Christian Salvation Service, a welfare organisation in Taiwan licensed by the Taiwanese government to carry out adoptions |
| DOCS | New South Wales Department of Community Services |
| ECWS | Eastern Child Welfare Society Inc, a private welfare agency in Korea licensed by the Korean government to manage intercountry adoption programs with Australia and the USA |
| FANA | Fundacion Para la Adopcion de la Ninez Abandonada, a private orphanage in Colombia, licensed by ICBF to provide adoption services |
| FEBEM | a quasi-government body in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, established for the care and welfare of children and operating, with community involvement, orphanages and shelters. |
| Friends | Friends of FANA |
| Hague Convention | Hague Convention on Protection of Children and International Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption |
| Home study | report prepared by a private social worker, contracted by DOCS, or a DOCS District Officer, assessing the suitability of applicants to become adoptive parents |
| IAPA | Indian Association for the Promotion of Adoption, a private adoption agency in India licensed by CARA |
| ICA | International Children’s Aid Ltd |
| ICBF | Instituto Colombiano Bienestar Familiar, the government welfare department in Bogota, Colombia |
| IPI | Centro do Adocao IPI, the government registered adoption and child care organisation of the Igreja Presbyteriana Independente, in Brazil |
| Juizador do Minors | Children’s Courts in Brazil |
| Lar Galilea | an orphanage in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, registered by Juizador do Minors and operating under the aegis of FEBEM |
| MASOS | Madras Social Services, a government registered adoption organisation in Madras, India |
| Mestizo | (in Spanish America) of mixed race of Spanish and American Indian ancestry |
| Mulatto | the offspring of parents of whom one is white and one is a Negro |
| PANI | Patronata Nacional de la Infancia, the government welfare department in Costa Rica |
| SENAME | Servicio Nacional de Menores, the government welfare department in Chile |
| SNSS | Secretaria Nacional de Servicio Social, the government body in charge of adoption matters in Bolivia |
| SOCSEAD | a government registered adoption organisation run by the Holy Cross Order of Catholic nuns in Tamil Nadu, India |
| VCA clearance | the Indian government’s certification that a child cannot be adopted locally and is therefore cleared for adoption overseas |
