Child Adoption In England And Finland Social Policy Essay

Child Adoption In England And Finland Social Policy Essay This essay attempts to illuminate the differences and similarities in issues related to child adoption in England and Finland while offering an examination into the contexts in which social workers and associated professionals have to function. While both England and Finland are states within the European Union (EU), they demonstrate distinct and differing approaches to the adoption of children. In Finland along with other countries in Scandinavia, child adoption and the permanent transfer of parental rights is less of a central a concern, or worry than currently so in England where child adoption is featured prominently across a range of professional, political and popular discourses. In terms of social work practice the involvement of children and families, coupled with certain factors of the adoption process have been handled in a distinctly different way between the two countries. This can be seen where in Finland adult adoptees were allowed to gain access to records regarding th eir adoption or their birth parents far earlier than their English counterparts where this was not permissible until much later earlier through the Children Act 1975 (Triseliotis, 1973, p. 1). According to Lowe (2000) in the late-nineteenth century attempts were made to introduce adoption, but it was not until 1927, subsequent to the Adoption of Children Act 1926, that child adoption became legally recognised in England. Since then many factors including; reports, legislation and case law have all had an impact, this has resulted in refined policy and changes in social work practice. More recently media attention has illustrated social workers alleged shortcomings in relation to child adoption processes. In recent years, adoption policy has been influenced by a number of socio-cultural and political factors. During the Conservative government of the 1990s politicians and policy makers made attempts ineffectively to restructure what were viewed as unsatisfactory adoption procedures (see PIU, 2000, p. 31). These services were impaired because social workers were driven by political correctness (Hopton, 1997). The white paper Adoption: The Future was published In November 1993, representing a common sense approach to adoption (Department of Health, 1993). In 1996, the DoH published a Draft Bill with an emphasis placed on child adoption as an alternative to single parenthood during the consultation period. The Bill failed to progress any further due to the General Election in May 1997. With a change in government, the then Prime Ministers (Tony Blair) Review of Adoption was published in 2000 (PIU, 2000). Followed by a White Paper, Adoption: A New Approach (Department of Health, 2000), wh ich was followed by the publication of the Adoption and Children Bill in 2001. The Bill failed to materialise due to the General Election later in the same year. It was however re-introduced in October 2001 and the Adoption and Children Act received royal assent in November 2002. The first Adoption of Children Act in Finland was in 1925, a year earlier than the English equivalent. The present Finnish Adoption Act stems from 1985 followed by an additional Adoption ruling in 1997 which dealt specifically with adoption counselling and inter-country adoptions. Specific to Finnish adoption system is the role of Save the Children originally created in 1945 following the merging of two previous organisations (Homes for Homeless Children which were practicing adoption since 1922 and Save Finlands Children, which was set up after the Second World War in an attempt to help orphaned children). This organisation is now part of the International Save the Children. Save the Children has had an influential position as a provider of adoption services in Finland. In addition to civic welfare bodies, Save the Children is still the only private child welfare organisation in Finland licensed to provide adoption counselling (Pylkkanen 1995) In Finland, adoptions have dramatically changed during the last 30 years, in 1970, 243 Finnish children were adopted through Save the Children. Over the last few years this has decreased to less than fifty. Partly as abortion became more freely available following the Abortion Act of 1970; the number of unplanned children born to young single mothers fell. (Garrett, 2003 p.21). England too has seen a decrease in adoptions, (PIU, 2000, p.10) This may be attributed to the rise in use of the contraceptive pill and the acceptance of single mothers. According to Lowe (2000) The largest decline is in respect of babies (children under the age of 12 months) put up for adoption; in 1968, 12,641 babies were adopted (51% of all adoptions), but only 195 babies were adopted in 1998 (only 4% of all adoptions) According to Bennett (2009) Only 4,637 children were adopted in 2007, the lowest number since 1999. In both states, adoption is far more likely to involve children in public care-or looked after children (In England under the Children Act 1989) who are older, are child protection concerns, or have disabilities (DoH, 1998). This is in part due to the fact that there are very few healthy babies available for adoption. In England there are approximately 60,000 children looked after. (Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), 2007). 62% of these children were removed, on a compulsory basis, from their family. Approximately 1% of all children under 18 years live in foster care, with about 48% in family foster care, 40% are in childrens homes, and the remaining 12% in new formats of family professional care (Kalland Sinkkonen, 2001). In July of this year these statistics were even worse according to sources obtained by Bennett (2009) who claimed that this figure was now almost three quarters of all adoptions, she agrees with the reasoning behind the removal of children form their families stating The increase in alcohol and drug abuse among parents is also a growing factor in care proceedings, with parents often being given several chances to break their habit before children are removed. It may possibly be argued that many of those children in long-term placements should and probably could be adopted, but this is not the overriding view of Finnish society, indeed the dominant view is that of family preservation. Several contributors share the opinion that childrens best interests are met when every effort is made to keep the family together. If foster care is needed, it should always be of limited duration (Garrett, 2003). These views echo FOX HARDING CHECK WHICH PERSPECTIVE AND MENTION Many of these Finnish children in long-term foster care could have been adopted if they lived in England. Evidently, foster care makes it possible for children to keep some contact with their birth family. Unfortunately, this is not always advantageous for the child because of the severe difficulties including both psychological and behavioural of some parents (Quinton et al., 1997). The placement faces the risk of breakdown where the birth parents have sufficiently dealt or recovered from their difficulties, and desire to be a complete family with the return of their child. This may be successful, but may also be short-lived resulting in endless short-term placements. This will have an adverse effect destroying the childs ability to form any meaningful attachments in adulthood. Adoption would offer the child an opportunity to form a stable relationship but this would cut the connections with the birth family. In Finland adoption against the will of the natural parents is far from th e norm. As a result, there are very few contested adoptions. According to the Finnish Adoption Act, the consent of both biological parents is needed before the adoption can take place. It should be noted that there are two exceptions to this; firstly, adoption can be granted if it is believed that the adoption is definitely in the best interests of the child and the refusal of consent of the parents is not suitably justified, secondly, the parents cannot logically express their will due to illness or disability, or if their whereabouts are unknown. Additionally the mothers consent is only accepted after she has recovered from the birth (no earlier than eight weeks). In Finland the feelings and desires of the child are taken into account, this is according to the age and level of maturity. If the child is 12 or older, their opinions must be taken into account. In recent years England has evolved a degree of openness in the adoption process (DoH, 1999, Ch. 5). This is because traditionally in England, the adoption of children resulted in the cutting off of the relationship with the birth mother and birth family. The developments in this area have been provoked through professionals whose opinion that openness is important for the mental health and identity needs of adoptees (Kirton, 2000, p. 108). The ability for English adoptees and their family to gain access to records is relatively recent, in fact as recent as 1973 Scotland and Finland were the only countries in the Western world where an adopted person could obtain information from official records that could help them trace their original parents Triseliotis (1973, p. 1). The move away from high levels of secrecy can also be attributed to adoptees who wanted to find birth relatives (Campbell et al., 1991), birth mothers also campaigned for larger levels of openness in adoption in Engl and (Logan, 1996). These actions coupled with the Natural Parents Support Group, an organisation of birth mothers, who lobbied the UK parliament for a public inquiry into the injustices which occurred through the mass adoption in the 1950s and 1960s (Rickford, 2000, Fink, 2000). The Children Act 1975 gave adopted people over the age of 18 years the right to apply for access to their original birth certificates. The recent openness has enabled in some instances, contact arrangements between the child and birth family after the adoption has taken place (Lowe, 2000, p. 326-329). The Adoption Act 1976 amended by the Children Act 1989, made it compulsory for the Registrar General to set up an Adoption Contact Register in an attempt to make it possible for adopted people to contact their birth parents and other birth relatives. It the opinion of Hughes Logan (1995) that these measures are in part due to the increasing awareness of the importance of post-adoption services. The view in Fin land however has been far more open indeed; Save the Children has mediated between the adopted child and biological parents since the 1960s. It should be mentioned that large proportions of adopted people in Finland still do not wish to seek contact with their original families, usually those that felt disappointment about being adopted inn the first instance (Garrett 2003). This all means that while the recent drive toward adoption being more open is obviously important, it must be recognised that openness is not simple or straightforward. Kalland et al. (2001) shows that mortality rates in Finland for both sexes on the child welfare registry are in excess compared with the general population. Another Finnish study showed aggressive behaviour, delinquency and attention problems were associated with children and adolescents in childrens homes and that children may also be at risk of sexual abuse in these homes with the person responsible for the act often being an older adolescent (Hukkanen et al., 1999). What is important though is, none of these negative instances can be entirely attributed to poor quality or damaging care that children get whilst in public care. Numerous children arrive in these institutions already suffering from been highly traumatised in some cases due to parental addictions. In short, it is not simply the looked-after experience which leads to poor outcomes. Whereas in contrast concerns about the poor outcomes of children who are looked after (Parker et al., 1991) in England such as; ineffective health provision available for looked after children (Butler Payne, 1997), poor levels of educational achievement (Aldgate et al., 1993, Fletcher-Campbell, 1998), the bullying that takes place in care settings, the high pregnancy rates amongst teenagers in care in 2007 there were 360 mothers aged 12 and over who were looked after, an increase of 15 per cent from the previous year, (Corlyn McGuire, 1998, DCSF, 2007), the disappointingly high number of moves from care environment to care environment (Sone, 1997), and the lack of preparation for those leaving care, and poor after-care support (Biehal et al. , 1995) has led to the English adoption system making wholesale reform In July 2000 the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair published the governments Review of Adoption which contained over 80 recommendations. Four of these recommendations focused on plans to; develop and implement a National Adoption Register, drawing up of new National Standards for local authorities to follow, the setting up of an Adoption and Permanency Taskforce to promote best practice and challenge poor performance, and conducting a rapid scrutiny of the backlog of children that were waiting to be adopted (PIU, 2000, p.4).This was followed in December 2000, with the White Paper, Adoption-A New Approach. The aim of establishing a National Adoption Register and an Adoption and Permanency Taskforce were again set out. A national target was to be set with the aim of increasing the number of looked after children adopted. Other processes highlighted in the consultation paper integrated within the plan were to introduce new National Standards for councils and adoption agencies. To enforce these standards, powers were put in place emergency inspections and special measures to deal with problematic service providers. Other plans included, timescales for children enabling a sound plan for their permanent future, this would be made within six months of their starting to be continuously looked after. When the decision was made that adoption was to take place, a new family should be found within a further six months. In an attempt to aid adoptive parents new plans to support them were briefly set out. Other significant measures included: a new legislative option, called special guardianship, this would provide a sense of stability for the child, but fall short of legal separation from their birth parents. Unlike England there is no National Adoption Register and there are no plans to develop and implement one in Finland, a National Register however, could possibly help in advancing research and practice in a Finnish framework. Likewise an Adoption and Permanency Taskforce similar to that of England would be welcomed by many in Finland. Finlands parliament however, have this year voted to give people in same-sex couples who are registered in an official partnership the legal right to adopt the naturally-born child of their partner.(Finnsson, 2009) No further plans to speed up adoptions of looked after children are planned. This is, perhaps, because as suggested earlier of the dominant position Fox Harding again which places an emphasis on family preservation services. There are very few Finnish waiting to be adopted. There are however in contrast, hundreds of couples waiting to adopt a child. There has been some discussion in the media about the intense frustration of these couples. It may take four or five years to have a child adopted. This has raised the notion of an adoption industry which is fed by the child protection system, Regrettably, in many cases, the emphasis has changed from the desire to provide a needy child with a home to that of providing a needy parent with a child. As a result, a whole industry h as grown, generating millions of dollars of revenues each year, seeking babies for adoption and charging prospective parents enormous fees to process paperwork.(Pragnell, 2008) It is also his view that the interests of the child are now the cause of atrocities committed against children and parents by well-meaning and well-intentioned employees of state and related agencies but whose acts are leading to immense suffering for children.

Should Illegal Immigrants Be Allowed to Receive Social Services

Immigration is a large and controversial topic as far as the United States is concerned. However, there is one subject in question that isn’t quite openly addressed and up for discussion, as say border control. American citizens face many difficulties dealing with the admission of people in the United States illegally. The primary obstacles facing the system today include overcrowding in schools, availability of jobs and the unnecessary usage of Americans’ tax dollars. Unless every immigrant pays taxes, I do not believe they should receive health and social services. Some people argue that although illegal, immigrants still pay taxes (Carabelli 2-3). Numerous immigrants get false Social Security numbers in order to find jobs. Having these Social Security Numbers, employers are able to withhold all types of taxes. According to the internal revenue service, â€Å"†¦ about 6 million unauthorized immigrants file individual tax returns each year [thus confirming] estimates that between 50 percent to 75 percent of unauthorized immigrants pay federal, state, and local taxes† [ (Carabelli 3) ]. However, according to the united States General accounting office, a report they did shows that even if illegal immigrants do pay taxes, benefits provided to them cost more than they contribute, causing the United States a huge loss of money [ (Carabelli 4) ] Referring to Table 1, California spent a total of $1,770 million dollars on education, incarceration, and emergency services for illegal immigrants. In contrast, California only received $732 million in tax money from them. California lost $1038 million dollars. Also, Florida spent $461 million dollars in education, incarceration, and emergency services, losing $184 million dollars (Carabelli 4). (Carabelli 118) California tried to keep a handle on the costs of illegal immigrants by refusing to give social services to them. Illegal immigrants in the state were not supposed to be allowed state funded health care, public education, and other benefits. Some people had issues with this proposition; supporters of it made a point that Californians are suffering from the existence of illegal persons in their area and the violence they cause. Legal citizens have every right to safety and protection against these people who have entered the United States illegally from the government [ (Carabelli 6) ]. One of the biggest issues having to do with education is overcrowding in schools [ (Crisis 1) ]. In California, there have been reports of overcrowding to the point that schools are forced to reject students. Some people say there is a deficiency of teachers, but the truth is there are just too many immigrant students [ (Crisis 1) ]. According to usimmigrationlawyers. com, â€Å"The share of students in the U. S. ho are immigrants or the children of immigrants has tripled in the past 30 years; in 1970, they were only 6. 5 percent of the student body† [ (systems 1) ]. Immigrant students overwhelm around fourteen percent of schools by up to twenty-five percent. To accommodate overcrowding, a lot of schools have come up with alternatives to classrooms such as, portable classrooms, and using other facilities like cafeterias [ (systems 1) ]. Sometimes, having class in foreign rooms or places can be a distraction to students, especially if there are other things going on around them. Many towns and cities have resorted to building new schools because of the amount of students they are gaining [ (systems 1) ]. It is hard to keep track of exactly how many illegal pupils are in the school systems and determine the correct amount of funding needed. Some programs used to help educate non- English speakers; help to keep count as to how many there are [ (Carabelli 9) ]. However, other programs aren’t made specifically to meet the needs of Immigrants. Many schools find the need to hire bilingual staff to help immigrants. They also purchase special tools such as books and computer programs [ (systems 1) ]. One source of education, English Language Learner, needs extra funding to help it function correctly. This makes the teaching of immigrants more expensive, especially in areas where immigrants are dense [ (Carabelli 9) ]. One solution that has been brought to the table many times is amnesty. President Reagan signed the Simpson-Mazoli Act in 1986, which forgave about 2. 7 million immigrants for entering illegally, and allowed them to stay [ (Mcmanus 1) ]. The reason for this generous agreement was the hope that it would stop more illegal aliens from coming into the United States. This accord didn’t exactly help the problem. In fact, it became more intense, and more illegal aliens crossed the borders into our country [ (Mcmanus 1) ]. Since the big amnesty in 1986, the US has let about three million additional immigrants in. The authorities responsible for allowing them to stay neglect to admit it was them who did it because it attracted more newcomers [ (Mcmanus 1) ]. Even if the United States attempted amnesty again, it would fail for the exact same reason. Granting them amnesty is giving them what they want and in the long run, that costs the US more money than just deporting them. During the Second World War, many immigrants came across the borders to take the jobs of those who were a part of the army. When the war ended, service men came back to find that most of their jobs were taken, immigrants were committing many crimes that ruined the communities, and their millions of children were enrolling in school causing them to become overcrowded [ (McGrath 1) ]. A lot of people say that immigrants do all of the dirty jobs no Americans would do. However, a study done shows that if Americans were paid a reasonable, average wage, they would indeed choose to do those jobs as well [ (Immigration:Jobs) ] It is fair to say that immigrants have distorted the way people see jobs today. It used to be that citizens would do construction, bricklaying and other strenuous job like those, now it is not uncommon to find a Hispanic or other immigrant doing those jobs. Employers lowered pay for illegal immigrants because most of them are willing to do work for any amount. Which, in turn, makes the employer happier because they can hire more help for less so of course they would rather have undocumented workers than legal citizens. (Immigration:Jobs) One immigration case the Supreme Court had to face, dealt with schools in Texas turning away immigrant children. In 1975, Texas lawmakers chose to ban the use of state education funds to pay for the education of illegal immigrant students [ (Unmuth) ]. Some schools turned away all illegal immigrants; some accepted them but forced them to pay tuition. One man brought his family to the United States to get them a better education and his children were turned away because they were illegal [ (Unmuth) ]. The family chose to fight this in court with a couple of other people and won with a 5-4 vote. The spokeswoman for the Federation for American Immigration reform stated that people do not want to watch any child be denied an education, but they want to find a way to stop parents from coming over illegally in the first place. Many taxpayers are feeling as though they are being used; they are forced to pay taxes that support and pay for services and education or illegal beings in the United States. The Tyler vs. Doe case has ensured that all people, illegal or not, will be guaranteed an education. Also, under the fourteenth amendment, all illegal immigrants are promised equality and every civil right a natural citizen has (Unmuth). Asking natural citizens of the United States most will admit they do not like the fact that Illegal Immigrants receive benefits paid for by our taxes. Only one out of every four people believes it is okay for immigrants to receive food stamps and Medicaid [ (Staff 2) ]. Also, only eighteen percent are okay with illegal immigrants getting public housing. A little fewer than eighteen percent of citizens that took this poll decided that illegally admitted people should be allowed state grants for college. The goal for the senate is to come up with something to fix border control so more illegal immigrants cannot enter and catch people that employ illegals to stop providing them with jobs. With these laws in hand, hopefully immigrants will stop wanting to enter the United States [ (Staff 2) ]. So far, the United States has not found an effective way to prevent people from entering illegally. The first step that should be taken is being stricter with the borders. Currently, we have a fence along the US-Mexico border to attempt keeping people from crossing. It is 335-350 miles in length along the approximately 1969. 13 mile long border. That leaves around 1,619-1,634 miles of border un-blocked, wide open for crossing. Congress has ordered for the fence to be extended. Considering the fact that there are plenty of issues with land ownership, there are many problems with law faced with extending the fences. In addition to the fences, along the border we have several different types of electronic security systems. There are cameras and sensors that are monitored twenty-four hours a day by border patrol (Practice). Another strategy is worked from the inside. We are trying to prevent illegals from wanting to come over. This is preventing employers from hiring them in the first place. The United States uses a program called â€Å"E-verify†. It helps employers confirm that the people they are hiring are legal citizens. So far, â€Å"A study conducted in May 2008 by the Center for Immigration Studies estimates that the illegal immigrant population of the United States may have dropped by about 11 percent from the previous summer. It suggests that the total illegal immigrant population went from 12. 5 million in August 2007 to 11. 2 million in May 2008. † (Practice). According to writer Roger McGrath, there should be no problems deporting Illegal Immigrants back to their countries. In 1954 the US held a large deportation sending around two million immigrants back to their home countries [ (McGrath 1) ]. He says it was â€Å"done swiftly and cheaply by a relatively small force, proving that arguments we hear today about such an operation being logistically impossible are nothing more than a mask concealing a lack of political will†. I believe that the United States’ immigration problem will never be one hundred percent resolved. We can try building fences, or walls but there is always a way around, under or through those. We can try upping security along the borders with cameras and sensors, but there is a way to seem invisible to those. The matter of fact is that we have to come up with laws that make it impossible to get benefits, impossible to get a job and places to live. If we have to play dirty to get what we want, so be it. The American people worked hard to get where we are today and even with that, we struggle. Illegal is illegal we can’t make excuses to get out of our lives neither should they. I feel bad for those struggling in other countries, we have our problems too. The United States tries to help out other countries as much as they can, it is hard. So why should Americans have to pay for them to come into our country and live? Works cited http://www.usillegalaliens.com/impacts_of_illegal_immigration_jobs.html http://athens.usembassy.gov/dcm_immigration.html

Motor Development Autobiography Essay

The motor development was consisted of seven periods across the lifespan, each period is characterized by the different motor skills. Progression from one period to another would depend on the changes in three critical constraints, as well as individual’s skills and experiences. According to the developmental perspective, the changes in the motor skills were defined as sequential, cumulative and individual. Everyone would follow the same sequence of the motor development, however, age does not determine the sequence because the skills are built based on individual’s background experiences and knowledge. Prenatal Period The first stage of motor development is the prenatal period, it is the period from conception to birth. The prenatal period is characterized by three major sub periods: Germinal, embryonic and period. The germinal period represents the first two weeks after the fertilization, where the ovum attached the uterine wall and the cell layers are formed. The embryonic period began from two to eight weeks, when the cephalacadual and proximodistal growth took place. At this time, infants could move around to obtain the upright posture, where different parts of the body are also distinguishable. Our motor development began prenatally, usually started from the embryonic and fetal period. The fetal period started from two to nine months, when most of the body systems were getting more structurally developed. However, the organs and body systems were still functionally immature. The fetal period was characterized by rapid growth and organ completion, as well as reflex activities and movements. As early as three months, babies could demonstrate both spontaneous and reflexive movements. My mother told me that she first felt my kicking and hand movement around the fourth month, and she also went to do the ultrasound to check if I was a healthy baby. My mother kept the testing record updated, the doctor also told her about my gender when I was a six-month-old baby. During the prenatal period, the development represented the interaction of  heredity and environment. The organism constraints such as genetic makeup, would dominate the development, while the environmental constraints could also affect the development. Teratogen was an environmental factor that cause harm to the embryo or fetus, it could lead to the birth defects. However, the baby’s genetic makeup and the amount of exposure would play important roles that affect the degree of harmfulness. The epigenetic crisis represented a time of particular susceptibility to harm, that different trimester exposed to teratogen would lead to different degrees of functional or structural damages. I was a healthy baby and received high APGAR scores mainly because my mother did not drink alcohol nor smoke during the pregnancy. My mother was a housewife, she stayed home most of the time looking at baby pictures and listening to classical music. Her daily exercise was walking, when she had to g o to the supermarket near my house. During the pregnancy, my mother’s life was simple and worriless, she was also a happy and a healthy mother. Reflexive Period The reflexive period started from birth to two weeks, the reflexive or spontaneous movements are used to insure the infant’s survival. There were two types of reflexes, the primitive and postural reflexes. The primitive reflexes were used for the protection and nutrition purposes, usually disappear by the sixth month. I demonstrated the rooting reflex when I was one month old, when my mother tactile my cheek, I immediately turned my head toward her finger (see picture five). My mom also told me that I used to like sucking my thumb before I go to sleep (see picture four). It showed sucking reflex, which was the biological response for the basic needs and helped infants to survive. The asymmetric tonic neck reflex appeared around the same time, when my right arm was extended and the left to keep my body facing a direction (see picture four). On the other hand, the postural reflexes are used for the development of later voluntary movements. The postural reflexes may never disappe ar, those reflexes also automatically provided the maintenance of infant’s upright position in relation to the environment. Setting up an upright posture could also help infants survive in the environment, as the environmental constraints began to have more  influences on the development. Overall, the organism constraint dominated the development during the reflexive period, and the environmental constraints were influential. Preadpated Period The motor development of preadapted period would usually take place when an infant is around two weeks to a year old. During this early developmental period, the organism constraints played a dominated role, the environmental constraints were influential, and the task constraints organized the action. The goal of the movement would be the attainment of independent walking and independent finger feeding. When I was an infant, I followed the sequence of motor development to obtain my upright posture. At two weeks, I couldn’t lift my head off the support surface to gaze about the environment. I would need help on lifting my head, therefore my mother would put her hand behind my trunk to support my body (see picture two). The posture at this age was the prone position (see picture one). At birth, infants would show their first motor movement by learning to prone. Soon after that, I began to elevate myself on my arms. As soon as I reached five months old, I was able to sit alone without support (see picture seven). Around five and half month old, I could demonstrate rolling, which was the earliest pattern of infant locomotion development. However, I skipped the stage of crawling, an important stage of motor development that helps infants to prepare for later walking skills. Because I was the oldest child in the family, my parents thought maybe I was too fat to demonstrate crawling (see picture six – I couldn’t crawl up to a chair). I thought the main reason for not crawling was that I often played with older children in our community. Since I am able to see many â€Å"role models†, it is likely that I learn how to stand first, thus skipped the crawling. The environmental constraints played an important role for me in the process of learning to stand, walk, and later running. The rate enhancer would be the opportunity for me to play with the older children, and to learn more motor skills from them. However, the rate limiter and organism constraints for not acquiring the walking or running skills would be the strength. Because my  mother was a housewife, she spent a lot of time taking care of me. She taught me how to stand by holding both of my arms first, to give me strength support (see picture nine). Soon I was able to acquire the standing motor skill, I can stand by myself (see picture ten). My parents then bought me a â€Å"walker† to help me learn how to walk (see picture eight). The walker was very helpful because it had wheels under the chair, I can actually go anywhere I wanted, just like a walking person. Around approximately ten-months old, I began to cruise and showed walking patterns. However, the rate-limiter and constraint of walking is my posture, because I have not yet obtained the upright posture for walking. It might be the fact that I wanted to play with the older children, and I was also able to see how other children walk, I showed early mature walking patterns at the age of eleven-months old. At this time, I was an independent walker with newly learned walking skills! When I first began to walk, I was walking very slowly, making short strides and put my arms up high to make balance. The primary rate limiters for not acquiring the upright position in walking were the postural control and strength. My body proportion was also a disadvantage to obtain the walking skills, because the proportion of my head was thirty percent of the body while my legs are only fifteen percent. I had heavy body and short legs, (heavy center of mass and light base of support) it would be hard for me to keep the upright postural control and balance for walking pattern. At this point, the environmental and task constraints would show more influences on the motor development. As I obtained the skill of independent bipedal locomotion (walking), I encountered movement problems. According to dynamical systems perspective, the degrees of freedom and context-conditioned variability are the problems for a new walker. If I was able to go anywhere I want, then I had the right of choosing where to go, or how to get to the desired place. However, the problems were solved from self-organization of the body system and the emerging of the constraints. The major rate limiters for not acquiring the running skills would mainly come from the organism constraints, such as the posture, strength and motivation. For me, I was motivated to learn those motor skills because I  wanted to play with older children. I was a fast learner also because my parents spent time and efforts to help me obtain the locomotion skills. Therefore, six months after I learned how to walk, I was able to run anywhere I want to go (see picture eleven). I have also developed manipulative skills as I learned to use hands to feed myself, and I was able to show better hand-eye coordination and movement. Fundamental Motor Skills Period The fundamental skills period began at the age of one, ends by the age of seven. In a way, this period of time would be a sensitive period to learn certain motor skills for later skillful movements. The fundamental motor skills period would be the building blocks for later emerging skills, and acquiring those skills were essential to later developing motor skills. Those skills were characterized as the phylogenetic skills, which are skills typical to individuals. Obtaining the locomotion and manipulative skills would be the fundamental and developmental process to obtain later movements. At this time, both fine and gross mother skills were beginning to develop. Those skills might not be maturational determined, and the arm and leg coordination were still immature. When I was a year old, I would throw a ball only using my arm movement, my legs and trunks barely made any movements. As I grow two more years older, I could demonstrate the pattern of block rotation, at the point where my body moved as one long axis. I would step my feet first, then put my arm backward ready to throw. My arm, leg and trunk have lined up as straight along the axis, and allowed me to have more power in throwing. Around the age of six or seven, I was able to demonstrate the differentiated rotation movement. My arms, legs, hip and shoulder would move separately as I began to obtain higher level of throwing. When I threw, my hip usually showed the first movement, followed by my shoulder and arms. At this young age, I had difficulties to demonstrate the locomotion skills of skipping. Skipping would be the latest motor movement for children to learn, not only because it had higher level of difficulty, but also it required the ability to hop on each leg sequentially. Older children would have no problem demonstrate skipping because they have better postural control, movements and coordination. Fine motor skills were begun to develop, such as drawing skills. When I was a one-year-old child, I would draw some scribbles on the paper, the outline and the shape of the objects were not clear to see. As I grew older, I showed more realistic drawings by making more clear lines, shapes and forms. I was also able to draw many different emotions on the faces and I used more variation in coloring my pictures. At the age of six, both my sister and I were interested to learn roller-skating. My father had brought two roller-skates for us, and we also took roller-skating class. It was really hard for me when I first started to learn roller-skating, and it was difficult to keep the balance. Skating is a complex motor skill because the arm and leg movements could not be in the same direction. My arm and leg coordination was also messed up, because I would always freeze my arms as I put it up high to obtain the balance. After many practices and countless falls, my sister and I have finally learned some basic fundamental skills of roller-skating (see picture fourteen). We wore kneepads because it was impossible not to fall, but we took them off as we were able to perform better in roller-skating. My father have also signed me up for a swim class, because he thought swimming was a very healthy exercise and it would help me to become healthier (see picture fifteen). Swimming was also a complex motor activity, while I tried to keep my legs padding in the water, the degrees of freedom limited me from doing any arm movements. Overall, the organism constraints dominated the development, the environmental constraints were influential and the task constraints organized the action. The rate limiter would be the proficiency barrier, the immature functional organism constraints held me back from acquiring the higher level of motor movement. Context-Specific Skills Period As I began to get older, around the age of seven to eleven, I reached the context specific period. The context specific period was characterized by the ontogenetic skills, which are skills unique to individual. Most children  at this period have obtained context-specific knowledge and experience to acquire their individualized skills. The context-specific period also represented a transition period between the attainment of the fundamental motor skills and the transformation into skillful motor performance. Because it was influenced more by the environmental and task constrains, motivation and parental support would be important to help children move on successfully to the skillful period. Organism constraints also played important roles, such as physical, social and emotional development. At this time, I have grown taller and gained more body weight. There were also changes in my cardiovascular system, the aerobic power increased because I was able to uptake more amount of oxygen at a time. The improvement can be seen from exercising, such as swimming. I was still at the swimming class, my swimming had improved and I was moved up to a higher level. In order to graduate from the swimming class, it was required for everyone to pass an examination by performing the swimming skills in a weekly competition. I remembered how nervous I was when I had to swim butterfly in the competition, I felt so relieved when I passed the examination and get the award. Because of the training from swim class, I had more swimming experiences and obtained better swimming skills. Swimming has also helped me to improve arm and leg coordination in the development of gross motor skills. At this time, both fine and gross motor skills have also improved. I was still in love with roller-skating, but I have also fallen in love with ice-skating. Once my friends asked me to go ice-skating with them, they were surprised to see my skating skills. I have never gone ice-skating before, but because I knew how to roller-skate, thus it was easier for me to stay balanced. I showed better skating skills because I had already obtained the gross motor skills needed for skating, the arm and leg coordination had also improved as I gained more skating experiences. During the winter of my senior year in high school, my uncle asked me to go skiing with him. I was a little nervous because I have never skied before, and also I heard that skiing was a dangerous sport. However, all those worries had gone away as I began to learn skiing. As my uncle taught me how to ski, he was surprised to the pattern of well-coordinated arm and leg movement, as well as my balance. I was still in love with flute, and I had also become a member of the concert band in my middle school. At this time, I am more skillful in playing flute. Because I have been practicing everyday, my fingers are also more flexible as I gained more experiences. As I practiced more, the perceptual and speed processing increased, which allowed me to read the music faster. During my last year of the school, our concert band was informed to attend a National Musical Competition. We were invited to go to Florida State for three days for the competition, which we had to play against ten middle schools in the United States (see picture sixteen). I still could remember that moment when the judge announced our school to be the one winning the first price, for a moment I thought I was dreaming. It was unbelievable, it was the happiest moment in my life, and all the hard work has been paid off. I felt so proud to be a member of our concert band, because I had also contributed my effort to win the price. My parents and friends were very happy for me, and they encouraged me to take more challenges. The environmental and task constraints are the rate enhancers to help me move on to the next skillful period, and I have also gained more confidence in myself. However, the rate limiter for not acquiring the skillful skills would be the proficiency barrier, because of the functional organism limitation. I have not yet obtained the skillfulness of the perceptual cognitive functioning, such as not having enough knowledge base and a slower speed of processing. Skillful Period The skillful period usually started at the age of eleven, the word â€Å"skillfulness† could also represent context-specific because the skills were also individualized. After winning the first price and gaining the recognition, I decided to devote myself into playing flute. My parents supported me, they have also asked a professional flutist to be my tutor. With the hope that I might be a professional flutist someday, I have been practicing two hours per day to improve my playing skills. It was the organism constraints that influenced my determination and persistency, because I was motivated go achieve the goal (see picture seventeen). The environmental constraint also played an important role during the skillful period. For me, not only because my parents set high expectations toward me,  but also we were in the middle socio-economic status where the money for tutoring was affordable. If I ever become a successful swimmer or flute player, I’d thank my parents for gi ving me the opportunities. I have also been consistently going to swim, and it had become my regular exercise every week. At this time, my father did not need to force me nor sign me up for a swim class, because I liked swimming as much as I loved playing flute. I would still go ice-skating with my friends, and I have also learned how to perform some tricks. My uncle would still take me up to the mountain every winter to ski, I was able to ski on a higher hills and under more complex tasks. For those motor activities, I know if I were able to be persistent to practice, it would enhance my knowledge and experiences and my performance would get closer to the professional level. From the dynamical systems perspective, self-organizing system and organism constraints have set a balanced, equilibrium and coordinated state in the individuals. Compensation Period The compensation period represented a time when a skilled individual is compensating for a change in an organism constraint. Throughout the life span, our motor skills performance would keep on improving. As we reached at the point where organism constraints took place to change, our motor skills performance would decline. It showed the adjustment of our motor behavior, and our movements might not be as skillful. Due to the changes in organism constraints, a person at this period of time was also particularly vulnerable in gross motor skills, because those skills required larger forces and aerobic efforts. Changes in organism constraints are due to the declines in the body system such as maximum oxygen uptake, stroke volume, or maximum heart rate. There would be changes in our fundamental motor skills, such as locomotion and balance. At this time, our walking skills and balance have declined and we became more vulnerable to falls and injuries. It is also because the decreased bone ma ss, led to the changes in strength characteristics of the bones. In addition, our auditory and somatosensory systems would not be functioning well; a person could suffer from hearing loss or loss of sensitivity. Changes in the environmental constraints would also influence an individual at this period of time. The lifestyle, societal expectations or socio-economic status would make differences on their perceptions and actions. At the compensation period, the declining of physical abilities had impact on individual’s psychological and emotional systems. A person at this period might lose the interests in doing their favorite sports, or change the interest or hobby. Other than obtaining an active lifestyle, the higher socio-economic status would play a role to help an individual at this period to live longer and healthier, because of the better medical care. Future Goals As for now and the future, I would keep up with the concert band in the University of Maryland College Park, and attend as many musical performance as I could. I would still take private lessons and practice one to two hours per day to get myself on the right track. I know my dream would come true if I could keep up my persistency and hard work. This could be characterized as my organism constraints, because I was self-motivated and have confidence at what I do. My uncle would still invite me to go skiing with him every winter, we have been great skiing partners. However, it was harder to keep up with the skiing skills at a certain level if you just practice once or twice a year. The environmental constraint had limited my skiing skills, if I were to live somewhere in Alaska, I would have better chance to be a skillful skier. I also would continue my swimming practices, because it would be hard to catch up the butterfly if I stopped practicing it. I know I would never forget how to m aster those motor skill performances, they have been a part of me. However, to reach a certain level of expectation and goals, I would still need my parental support and encouragement, as well as my persistency and practices.

The Importance of Stem Cell Research Essay example

Over the last decade the use of stem cells has been a controversial and heated topic. Debates have exploded over every aspect of stem cell research. It has been speculated by scientists that stem cell research may have the potential to cure harmful diseases or even regrow organs. However some find that the health issues seen in earlier attempts to use stem cell transplants and ethical controversies involved with extracting stem cells, make it very dangerous to further investigate. In actuality the fact remains that the potential cures that may come from stem cell research could prove to be some of the most significant advances in modern medicine to this day. To understand why stem cell research is so valuable it’s vital to know what a†¦show more content†¦This state of pluripotency means that these cells can be used to replace old damaged tissues or help rebuild destroyed parts of the body. However the reason these cells are so controversial regardless of their highly flexible use and compatibility is â€Å" because when scientists remove the inner cell mass, the blastocyst no longer has the potential to become a fully developed human being.(Stem..., 2009) thus meaning the fetus will no longer become a living organism. It is this fact that has raised concerns as to the highly subjective question of whether an embryo is a human being. As has been seen when laws on abortion have been addressed , the question of the rights of an unborn fetus are inherently controversial and complicate the issue of whether stem cell research is something to carry on with or to abandon because of the ethical issues at hand. Keeping in mind abortion is legal, the question of wether or not stem cell research should be legal becomes apparent. If the people in legal guardianship of the aborted fetus give the right for the fetus to be used for stem cell research and advancement of medical science why shouldn’t the stem cell be used for research as opposed to being thrown out? This issue has people divided between whether it was ethical for these stem cells to used aborted fetuses for research. â€Å"Some advocate using only stemShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Stem Cell Research1278 Words   |  6 Pagespaper, there has always been a lot of controversy surrounding stem cell research and the ethically rights researchers have obtaining it, let alone experimenting with it. Therefore, it is no surprise that before RCT with stem cells on humans were approved and accepted, trials were done on mice and rats. While it is not ideal and in no way similar to the effects on humans, experiments done during this phase were useful in viewing how stem cells actually alter and impact osteoarthritic joints. In an experimentRead MoreThe Importance Of Stem Cell Research805 Words   |  4 Pageshereditary altering. In stem cell research, â€Å" An isogenic human iPSC cell line precisely corrected by the CRISPR-Cas9 system was recently constructed, despite t he handling difficulties associated with gene editing of human stem cells† (Kim, â€Å"CRISPR-Cas9: a promising tool for gene editing on induced pluripotent stem cells.†) iPSCs, which are fundamentally the same as embryonic stem cells, are pluripotent cells with a high self-reestablishment rate that can separate into all cell sorts; be that as itRead MoreThe Importance Of Stem Cell Research812 Words   |  4 Pagesscientists has recognized a vital regulator of hematopoiesis, the process of making new blood cells after bone marrow transplants, bone marrow injury, and during systemic infection, creating new blood cells, including immune cells. This regulator is a protein known as the Del-1 (developmental endothelial locus–1). Researchers have deemed that focusing on Del-1 will be an effective way to upgrade stem cell transplants for both donors and recipients. It is also determined that there could be also methodsRead MoreThe Importance of Stem Cell Research Essay1649 Words   |  7 Pagessuch as above kill off important cells that reproduce rapidly to help the body function normally. Well, what alternatives does one have to turn to when the time clock runs out for all cells, resulting in death. Stem cell usage is a second chance given that doesn’t set death as an essential from these fatal diseases. Stem cell research is an unaware issue to society that could possibly be the antidote to saving lives, and to others who are familiar with the research is a controversial issue on howRead MoreEssay on The Importance of Stem Cell Research1060 Words   |  5 Pagesaccomplished through stem cell therapy and cell d ifferentiation. Stem cell therapy is like an intervention, in which new cells are introduced into the body or tissue in order to treat a disease or injury (Haldeman-Englet, Chad). Cell differentiation is the process in which a cell has the potential to become physically/fundamentally and functionally different from one another Also meaning they are pluripotent (Smith, S.E). These special cells have many uses, thus the nickname â€Å"The Golden Cell.† ScientistsRead MoreThe Importance of Stem Cell Research Essay2451 Words   |  10 Pagesto stop taking risks†. Dr. Elias Zerhouni from the National Institute of Health gave this quote during an interview to a reporter in 2007. He was referring to Stem Cell research, a controversial medical issue of today. Louise Brown of Manchester, UK owes her life to scientists and doctors taking risks and exploring the world or Stem Cells. In 1978 she became the first baby to be born via in-vitro fertilization, a process where a womanâ €™s egg is harvested and mixed with male sperm to become fertilizedRead MoreThe Importance of Stem Cell Research Essay examples1503 Words   |  7 Pagesmedical research of scientists improves, new treatments are found that enable people to have a longer lifespan and live healthier. Medical researchers continue to discover new medicines that help people overcome fatal diseases and allow them to achieve a more sustainable life. As scientists research the potential of treatment for diseases, there is a promising future in stem cells that offer a possible treatment for a wide variety of diseases. Scientists discover the capabilities of stem cells throughRead MoreStem Cell Research in America: A Perfect Storm of Ideology, Politics, Science, and Religion1818 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿Stem Cell Research in America: A Perfect Storm of Ideology, Politics, Science, and Religion By: Me March 30, 2012 Abstract This paper discusses the recent history of stem cell research in the United States, tracking the controversies, politics, and promise of new technology that comes with a moral price. Starting in August of 2001, with President Bushs request that Stem Cell Research not be paid for with federal funding, the battle of science against religion began. (Rosenburg, 2001) DespiteRead MoreThe Expanding Field of Stem Cell Research744 Words   |  3 PagesStem cell research is one of the most widely expanding areas of scientific research being conducted all over the world today. In basic terms, stem cell research is the research of stem cells; however in actuality is much more complicated. A stem cell is a cell with the ability to develop into any of the cell types that make up the tissues and organs of the body. This makes these cells highly useful and provides limitless potential in the field of regenerative medicine. There are two expansive linesRead MoreResearch Essay : Stem Cell Research961 Words   |  4 PagesBiology Research Essay Erica Ford In recent years, there has been a lot more talk about stem cell research than ever before. The idea of stem cells arose in the 1960 s, with the first successful bone marrow transplant in 1968. Now, stem cell research is a widely known topic in biotechnology and shows a substantial amount of scientific promise. The future of stem cell research and the impact it could have follows with many questions on people s minds, as well the simple curiosity of what