How dare they call us non-moms?

What's wrong with Teleflora is what's wrong with the rest of the world. That may seem like hyperbole, but wait.

In describing adoptive mothers for a contest they jointly sponsored for this year's Mother's Day, they invited people to nominate their favorite "moms" by writing an essay about what makes that person special. There's a category for working moms, military moms, and also a category for "non-moms" which, folks, I have to say, was where they plopped adoptive moms.

For starters, don't these people have proofreaders to check for accuracy? Don't their copywriters know what adoption is? Apparently not. And worse, the brains who conceptualized all this, and the other geniuses who signed off on it, must be the same people who say to adoptive parents, "Are you sure you want to adopt? Who knows what you'll be getting?"

The site verbiage has been changed. It now reads:

"Teleflora is immediately changing the name of our "Non-Mom" category to "Adopting Moms". After closer examination, we can see how this may have been offensive to moms who have adopted children -- moms who are indeed real moms to their children in every sense of the word. In fact, many of us at Teleflora are “adopting” parents ourselves, including our president and owner. The essence of this category still focuses on a grandparent, neighbor, step mom, or mom to adopted or foster children, each one raising and loving a child. This show of insensitivity on our part was in no way intended and we deeply apologize for any concern or distress we may have caused. It was always our intent to salute and celebrate all moms."

Why do we have to be placed in a category outside of the mainstream "Mom" category in the first place? This is a question I've pondered ever since I became a mom, and I've hated having to accept that adoption is still seen as second best, and that adoptive moms are, in a way, seen as a second-best form of mother--though we are not better or worse than any other mother, we just come by motherhood on a different path.

Here is the link to website, now with the new verbiage that is still, in my opinion, insincere:
http://www.americasfavoritemom.com/mothers-day-2008/static/semiFinalists