Redefining Kinship?

Can words just be redefined to suit special interest groups?

More importantly, is nothing scared?


The AAC 29th Annual Conference, March 26-29, 2008 in Portland, is entitled--
Adoption in the Global Community: Redefining Kinship in the 21st Century

After reading this, I went to my trusty online dictionary to see if there was wiggle room in the word "kinship" which has always meant blood ties to me. This is what I found:

I. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
kin·ship /ˈkɪnʃɪp/
–noun
1. the state or fact of being of kin; family relationship.
2. relationship by nature, qualities, etc.; affinity.

II. American Heritage Dictionary
kin·ship (kĭn'shĭp')
n.

1. Connection by blood, marriage, or adoption; family relationship.
2. Relationship by nature or character; affinity.

II. American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
kinship

A relation between two or more persons that is based on common ancestry (descent) or marriage (affinity).

Nothing ambiguous at all...until the very last selection...one out of four:

IV. American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary
kin·ship (knshp)
n.

Connection by blood, marriage, or adoption; family relationship.

And so, I ask once again...in the world of newspeak is nothing scared?

We have already changed the meaning of "mother" twisting inside out and to call the one in who's womb someone grows a surrogate when the word surrogate means substitute, as in one who would raise the child of another. We call expectant mothers "birthmothers' [gag!] and prospective adopters "Moms-to-be" [ugh1].

What next? Will we "redefine" blood? Heritage? Origins?