Is Damian being Bruce's biological son known by the public?

I've been seeing some scenes where he is refered to as his ward instead of son even by batman himself in the Harley Quinn show. So are they pretending that Bruce adopted Damian to keep who the mother is a secret? I remember seeing a panel of him being insulted by some bully implying that Damian is the result of a one night stand in another country who just came later into Bruce's life so I'll assume it is eventually known that he is Bruce's bio son, so why do they call him Bruce's ward and if it's something beyond me just misunderstanding the word how does the public find out that he is Bruce's bio son?