Concert Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Concert Report - Essay Example Milonga de Angel was a deviation from the conventional style of milongas in that it was a really slow tango. Another example of a milonga that is slow like Milonga de Angel is Milonga Triste by Sebastian Piana. Astor Piazzola made the milonga rhythm an integral component of his individualistic style that reflected in the song. Astor Piazzola has essentially infused a rhythmic pattern of 3+3+2 which tends to give a new dimension to the milonga rhythm. Milonga de Angel is one of the most popular songs of Astor Piazzola which attracted immense American following. It was a tango performance. Instruments used for the music of this song included accordion, guitar and piano. It was one of the slowest pieces of tango music that I have heard in my life. Although the instrument was played with perfection, yet the overall feel that it lent to me was boring. It was a slothful song and the overall effect was lost in the excessive use of instruments. The performers did their job in the perfect manner. The performers were so well prepared for this song that it felt as if they had been practicing it for years. It is not quite easy to perform such a slow song live on-stage, but the perfection with which they presented it provided evidence of their practice and hard work. One of the instruments that seemed particularly difficult to play was the accordion, but the performers were too well prepared to make any error. While performing, the performers did not communicate with the audience and were rather totally focused on the music, which was one factor that made this concert different and special than the conventional concerts in which the performers engage with the audiences from time to time to keep their interest and zeal elevated. Despite that, the audiences never seemed to lose interest which speaks of the quality of performance. The audiences enjoyed the performance a lot. Frequently in between the songs, some people randomly would be overcome with

Theory of evolution Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Theory of evolution - Research Paper Example Thesis statement: The history, research and analysis, and discussion based upon the validity of the theory of evolution prove that the strengths overshadow the weaknesses of the same and future development in the field of modern science may prove its value as a scientific theory. Description: Evolution is the process of continuous change which occurs across generations. To be specific, evolution can be defined as the process of change and inheriting certain genetic characteristics which eventually leads to the formation of new species. There is a general misunderstanding that human beings evolved from apes. Instead, the supporters of evolution are in favor of the idea that human beings and apes belong to the same family, but human beings did not evolve from apes. So, one can see that evolution is the key element behind the biological diversity of the earth. Nardo (2009) stated that, â€Å"The ancient Greeks had the first known discussions about some concepts that later became part o f evolutionary theory† (p.19). The most important characteristic of the evolution is that the same is a continuous process. ... For instance, Darwin argued that natural selection is the key element behind the evolution of different species on earth. Darwin was aware of the fact that lack of evidence and data will attract disapproval and disagreement from the naturalists and scientists. So, he collected evidence to back up his theory with the same. Besides, Darwin tried to prove that life on earth carries a common ancestry. At the same time, his theory was supported by the data collected by him. Later, Thomas Henry Huxley made use of Darwin’s theory to argue that human beings and apes belong to the same family. Smith (1993) made clear that, â€Å"The study of evolution is concerned with how, during the long history of life on this planet, different animals and plants have become adapted to different conditions, and to different ways of life in those conditions† (p.26). Within the context of evolution as a scientific theory, heredity, variation, and mutation are important. One can see that heredit y decides the genetic characteristics of an organism. On the other side, variation is deeply influenced by external elements like environment. Besides, evolution is influenced by genetic variation of different species on earth. At the same time, mutation is another characteristic of the living world which can be considered as the proof for evolution. But mutation can result in positive and negative effect on living things. In short, the theory of evolution can be considered as the foundation stone of the growth and development of different fields within the context of the study of the living world. History: One can see that the earth’s ecological diversity fascinated the human beings. Still, the religious perspective of the origin of life is

Company Analysis And Overview Of Westjet Management Essay

Company Analysis And Overview Of Westjet Management Essay The purpose of this report is to analyse the case study Westjet in 2009: The Fleet expansion decision. The specific objective was to provide a diagnosis of the companys challenges, propose a suitable change management programme. Research was done in the general area of change management and the models available. Recommendations are based on the comparative analysis of the same 1.0 Introduction This report was commissioned by Dr Lee Mathias to analyse the Wesjet case study and provide a diagnosis of the companys challenges and develop a suitable change model. Also, recommendations have been made to manage resistance and ensure that the change is sustained. 2.0 Westjet 2.1 Introduction Westjet, a Canadian airline, which was founded in 1996 by group of Calgary businessmen, operates as a low cost player in aviation industry. The airline has 36% domestic market share in Canada only second to Air Canada, which has 57%. Since its inception the Airline is operating with single fleet model using Boeing 737s with capacity of 119 to 166 passengers. Using single fleet has helped Westjet to significantly reduce its operating and maintenance cost. With the 2008-09 economic crisis, the airline was facing flight occupancy issue in its most of the domestic routes. Lower occupancy has forced Westjet to pull out of Sudburys and Sault Ste market (two of the destinations in Ontario market). With this prospective in mind the airline is looking to add smaller Bombardier or Embraer airplanes with approximately 100 seats to its fleet. Including this type of aircraft will abandon the airlines more than a decade long success strategy of operating with single fleet and implementing this new strategy will be a big challenge for management. 2.2 Change: The airline industry exists in a hypercompetitive environment where organisations are required to change constantly in order to survive and maintain their position in the market (Biedenbach SÃ ¶derholm, 2008). Change in an organisation requires addressing the strategy (what is it that you want to change), skills (what skills, knowledge and abilities are required by the change recipients) and structures (short term and long term organisational tools essential to support the change) (Carter, 2008). Strategies are a means of striving to achieve an organisations mission and vision (Gill, 2003). Increasing the likelihood of success of Westjets strategy for a second fleet would involve answering questions such as What is the change they want to bring about? Is the change appropriate for the organisation? Can this change be implemented successfully? (Bruch, Gerber, Maier, 2005). 3.0 SWOT Analysis Prior to implementing the strategy, Westjet needs to assess the feasibility of the change with the help of an analysis tool such as SWOT. It helps determine whether the organisation will be able to sustain the change or not by analysing its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. 3.1 Strengths Strong financial standing: At the end of financial year 2008, the airline had a cash reserve of $820 million, which is 80% of its total debt. In addition to this, the airlines debt equity ratio is at 1.09, which is significantly low when compared to industry standards. Customer satisfaction: The airline has gained a significant customer satisfaction because of its ability to provide nonstop domestic flights, which helps its customer make a hassle free journey. For such domestic routes where the flights have occupancy level of 60-65% for 150 seater Boeing 737s aircrafts, smaller Bombardier or Embraer aircrafts can be included in this routes. This will help in improving the load to 90 to 95% and will reduce the cost without compromising on customer satisfaction. Better seat utilisation: The smaller aircrafts with 100 seats will have higher occupancy level as compared 737s Boeing aircrafts with 140 to 160 seats. 3.2 Weakness With inclusion of 2nd type of fleet the airline needs to train its existing work force, which can take care of maintenance of new fleets. The technology of the new fleet will be different compared to Boeing 737s, which may force Westjet to keep to two sets of staffs for maintenance. Moreover they will have to pay more airport charges because of inclusion of new aircrafts. These reasons coupled together will increase the cost for the airline and that will led to a significant impact on the profitability of it. Cost cutting and diversion of funds towards the new project may also result in unhappy staff. 3.3 Opportunity The main competitor of Westjet airlines, Air Canada (with 57% market share) is struggling to fight bankruptcy; it is difficult for Air Canada to achieve cost efficiency in such scenario. In such situation it will be comparatively easier for Westjet to tap international customers of Air Canada and adding new fleets will help them in do so. Westjet has recently made a tie up with European airlines like Air France. By the adopting 2nd fleet in Canadian domestic market, it can use Boeing 737s to fly for its international operations in Europe, which will help faster penetration in new market. If Westjet penetrates to European market then it will help WVI also to expand to Europe and generate revenue for Westjet group from its European business 3.4 Threats As stated in the case study there is only 3.6% increment of passengers year on year. At a time when existing fleets are operating with significant number of empty seats with low increment in number of passengers, in such scenario inclusion of 2nd fleet exposes Westjet to considerable risk. 4.0 Change Model for Westjet The airline industry is very dynamic is affected by global events such as 9/11, the SARS outbreak and the most recent swine flu outbreak all of which resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of travellers. To survive in todays complex every changing world Westjet needs to change its familiar way of operating and become capable of adapting to changes efficiently and effectively. There are a number of theoretical models available to assist Westjets strategic decision to expand. While some of these models are more suited for transformational change others are more suited for transactional changes. Lewins model for example which describes change in 3 stages unfreezing, moving and refreezing (Lewin,1952) would be suitable for a stable environment and not a dynamic environment like Westjet. Given below is an analysis of some of the models available: (http://pdfserve.informaworld.com.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/14790_751313697_793488144.pdf) In case of Westjet the change is planned however it will affect the entire organisation. Looking at the above models, it would be suitable for Westjet to adopt a combination of theoretical models available: Ø Understanding change characteristics: Westjet needs to first understand the need for this change. This change will help the airline in its expansion; it will help increase the load factor and revenue for it. With this change, employees of the airline will be impacted as they need to know about the mechanism of new fleet. Under this change program airline would be looking to use smaller aircrafts for domestic non stop flights and where as Boeing 737s aircrafts would mostly be used for international flights. Inclusion of new fleet will require upgradation of its scheduling and reservation application. Ø Risk Assessment: Under the change management program Westjet needs to understand the possible risks which could arise due to it. As the number of fleets will go up the, scheduling of same for domestic travel in such a way that aircrafts are rested at airport for a short period, would be a challenge. Improper handling of this issue could lead to operational risk, where the charges to be paid to airport authority will go up. To handle this issue, Westjet needs to make sure that its scheduling application is efficient enough to take this challenge. In addition to this there are certain risks which may arise if the new fleet fails to get acceptance from Westjet passengers. In worst case if it happens, the Westjet should lease these aircrafts to Asian airlines, which operates with leased aircrafts. On similar line there could be some more risk associated with this strategy, which Westjet needs to analyze and find the mitigation of the same before implementing of new fleets into its o peration. Ø Funding: Westjet has a cash reserve of $820 million, which would be sufficient for the initial phase of this change. At later stage if the airline needs to buy some more aircraft, where it needs external funds then it would be going for long term debts. Taking loan term loan will not be a major financial concern for airline as debt to equity ratio is at 1.09:1 compared standard value of 2:1. Ø Communication Plan: Westjet should communicate this new strategy to its employees, shareholders and suppliers. Share holders will be communicated with the need and benefit of new strategy through mailers. Suppliers and channel partners should also be communicated through mailers. For employees the communication should be by top management in an interactive session, where top management would answer to all the apprehensions that employees have along with possible benefits of new strategy. Ø Training: Westjet will have to implement new training programs for its crew member and maintenance engineers, so that they can learn the mechanism of operation of new fleet. For new employees the training program will include training for Boeing 737s as well as smaller Bombardier or Embraer airplanes. This will ensure that maintenance work for either fleet can be done by any maintenance staff. As a result efficiency will come with some additional training cost for the airline but it will help airline to continue to enjoy its process driven operation rather than having people driven operation. Ø Resource planning: At present the airline has 77 Boeing 737s aircrafts. With inclusion of Bombardier or Embraer airplanes, Westjet may need to hire additional staffs that have experience of working on Bombardier or Embraer airplanes. Ø Resistance management plan: The major resistance could come from employees of the airlines, due to their apprehension about success of new business model coupled with need for them to learn new technology. As the employees of Westjet have a significant share in operating profit of airlines, the top management should provide the estimated financial benefits of new strategy to employees along with assurance of complete training on new fleet. This will help in managing resistance from employees. The resistance from shareholders can be handled by highlighting the business needs and financial benefit of this change. Ø Change implementation: The airline would start operating with new fleet, once it completes process of communication of this change to its various stakeholders, training to employees, upgradation of softwares and addition of resources. Once the success of new fleet is proved, Westjet can add more Bombardier or Embraer airplanes into its operation. Ø Reinforcement planning: The airline will adopt the strategy of positive reinforcement on regular interval. This will be achieved through showing growth in revenue, with increased profit share amount for employees. 5.0 Sustaining Change Maintaining momentum and sustaining change is a crucial stage of the change process. If steps are not taken to sustain change the new state achieved may be short lived (Hayes, 2007) Once the 2nd fleet is introduced at Westjet, it is recommended take the following steps to sustain the change and allow support further growth: Ø Improve the learning curve for employees for maintenance of smaller Bombardier or Embraer airplanes through appropriate training. Ø Focus on greater profitability through leaner processes. The airline should look to adopt six sigma into its process, this will drive the innovation in its operation. Ø Introducing smaller Bombardier or Embraer airplanes for Carrabin Island and USA cities which are nearer to Canada and depending on the demand the airline can increase the number of fleets in this route. This will help in achieving higher occupancy for Westjet flights to Carrabin Island and USA Ø Empowerment of employees to act and take decision according to the situation Ø Continuous quality improvements in all processes and continuous focus on innovation Ø Westjet needs to continue with its flat organization structure and at the same time it should be flexible to facilitate resource requirements at the top management without any hassle Ø Westjet should try to achieve an organization wide belief that quality is everyones job through Vision-driven leadership Ø Inculcating values that include high moral standards, ethics, teamwork, involvement and risk taking Ø Measure the effectiveness of change through various change management tools Ø With inclusion of 2nd fleet, Westjet will have the opportunity for business expansion in international airline segment. To get optimum benefit out of its international operation, it should make partnership with other airlines, which will help it acquire those customers who do not fly to Westjet destinations. In addition to this it can make tie up with European airlines for promoting WVI. By taking these two strategic steps Westject can generate additional revenue for itself. Ø For future expansion through 2nd fleet Westjet needs to address language barriers which could arise due to its expansion into international market 6.0 Conclusion Westjet Airlines ultimate goal is to become top 5 most successful airlines of the world by 2016 and it is extremely difficult to achieve the same with single fleet model. The best airline in the world, US Airways is using more than 85 smaller Bombardier or Embraer airplanes. Moreover Westjet business model is on the similar to that of southwest airlines and since southwest has already acquired such airplanes, it makes sense for Westjet to adopt this new fleet. Inclusion of new fleet will help Westjet to gain more market share along with higher profitability greater efficiency. It will also help Westjet to build its 1st pillar of its goal i.e. to generate 10% additional revenue growth in available seat miles through fleet expansion.

The Songs and Deaths of Rockstars Essay -- Song Music Musicians Death

The Songs and Deaths of Rockstars   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Music as we know it today is the voice of a generation. It gives us entertainment, and speaks out for a community of people in many ways. Most people listen to at least some sort of music, and serves a purpose in almost every facet of society. Just about any expression can be shared through music, inlcuding ideas and feelings about death. Music is used in various way when pertaining to death, including songs about how a death occurred, or songs at a service mourning a death. Whichever way you look at it, music serves an important purpose, and the songs about death and the death of certain performing artists has a great impact on society, especially the youth of society. It will be interesting to think about some of these songs and musicians, and the effect their short lives and music can have in our society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No matter which way you turn your head, your going to hear many different kinds of music. Many artists look to cover as many topics in their music, and death and dying is a topic that everyone in this world will sooner or later deal with, so it is a topic that it is covered. It is interesting when looking at Rap industry, and two artists come to mind right away when speaking about death. The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur are two rap artists who both have died within the last five years, and were both extremely popular. What one may look at is the fact that both seemed to have an idea that they were going to die right before they did, and it was not because of a terminal illness, it was in fact by being murdered.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tupac Shakur was a very popular artist, whose talents were respected by people who weren't or aren't even rap music fans. He was very young when he passed, at age 25, and there are still people who listen to his music toiday, and there are even some people who question his death even occurred. Many of his albums have thoughts of death and his lyrics represent these thoughts, as he questions how much faith he has left, and how he seems to know his time is coming to an end. One of his songs, titled only God can Judge me, talks about how there is death all around him, and how it is hard to keep positive in the light of friends passing. Now, when dealing with a popular rap artist who makes alot of ... ...point or another in their lives. To the people who have never had someone close to them die, the death of a celebrity can be the next closest way for that person to experience and learn to deal with death. The deaths of the four artists mentioned touched the public in different ways. Brad Nowell was an aspiring artist who was just making it to the top when it all came crashing down. Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. were both already on top and their lifestyles of violence led to their demise. And the Kurt Cobain was a small town guy who didn't want all of the fame and his psyche crumbled as he comitted suicide. Each one of these deaths and the music brought from these artists gives us a sense of what it is like to die the way each of these people did. To alot of fans, when their favorite artist dies, a very small part of them dies, and it brings a rebirth to reality, on how life should be lived and that the industry is only entertainment, and not the way to a fulfulling life. In the end music cannot be a way of life, but it can lead to inspiration towards leading a good life, and gives comfort and hope towards that goal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Cafe Coffee Day Essay

Introduction The given case is based on CCD the largest coffee retailer in India. It started operation since 1996 by V.G Sinddharth. CCD pioneered the cafà © concept in India by year 2000 the company had only 14 outlets in 6 cities. It was after year 2000 the company started on a massive expansion program that has been it set up nearly 1000 outlets in India in ten years. The cafà © coffee day is owned by ABC Ltd which is the largest producer of Arabic coffee in Asia. There were many move made by cafà © coffee day. It was cafà © coffee day the made coffee drinking popular among India youth by offering a brand experience environment and other value addition. There is much different type of formats for its cafà ©s like High street cafà ©, garden cafà ©, mall cafà ©, Highways cafà © etc. Cafà © coffee day today has become the largest youth aggregate for a marketing. Stand point the success has come by focusing on 3’A: Accessibility, Affordalibility, and Acceptability coined by â€Å" Bidisha Nagaraj, the marketing president of cafà © coffee day. The amalgamated bean is among India’s top two coffee producers exporters with 10500 acres of coffee plantations in chik magalur company has 3 formats to focus on its customers cafà © coffee day lounge the premium format for the elite customers. The cafà © coffee day square the cafà © coffee day for the large number for the large number of regular customers. Review of literature The coffee market in India has been growing due to the demand for ready to drink coffee and it has become a part of an individual’s daily concepts basket. It is cafà © coffee day that understand the changing trends in the tastes and preferences of the consumers. Cafà © coffee day is no longer the place for just some coffee cookie and music. In a survey done by brand equity (economic times), the consumer ranked cafà © coffee day to be the 22nd place most trusted service brand of the country 2014 compared to that 2013. The main expertise of cafà © coffee day is in the service retailing of the coffee while they carry out operation sector also.  The role of service employees is very important for the success of any services organization, especially those that process people and internal marketing can help firms to deliver service excellence. Service excellence means delivering what the customer wants at the first encounter for cafà © coffee day there is a lot of competition in the leverage industry. The newly emerged player TATA Starbucks Ltd Starbucks expanded its presence to Delhi in January 2013 by opening two outlets at terminats3of the Indira Gandhi international airport and later it  opened a combination of standard outlets located at malls, airports, metro station, and other various commercial complexes. It took six years for cafà © coffee day to open 35 outlets on other hand the star buck-TATA alliance is planning to half century in a little more than a year. There were already competitors like Barista, java green, and Macho. Parts from Starbuck there are various international players like Costa coffee, Illcafe etc. which are trying to enter the Indian market. These market situations have a deep impact on the operations of cafà © coffee day to gain back its lost customers and also to get the potential customers do so. One central problem that has retarded the growth of the coffee business is the quality of staff available in the sector. Like the rest of the retail sector getting good staff training them in coffee and service aspects and retaining them is a costly undertaking. Analyst estimates that there is a turnover of around 40 per cent for the industry among the highest in the organized business sector. To sustain the present customer: In the marketing context it is said that the relations with the customer should be such that don’t have to go to the competitors. So the needful renovations should be bought into consideration To maintain the standard: The coffee chain businesses have been many changes since their start. The standardization is where they fail badly. The taste of a coffee or snacks being offered outside the main outlets is rarely the same as compared to those being provided in the main outlet. Make effective marketing strategies : The prime concern of the cafà © coffee day outlets should be based upon the 7p’s of the service marketing mix so as to get the best of the marketing result.  Cutting down prices:- The prices should be sliced down so that even if CCD are operating in rural areas their sales will rise. Moreover people should not think twice before enjoying their coffee in ambient environment. Flexible menu:- The menu of CCD should evolve their menu constantly after certain period of time. Maintaining their key status i.e coffee , their should be additions to local tastes in terms of eatables. This strategy will surely attract people. For the purpose of the study two research tools can be used both questionnaire ,to find out the primary data pertaining to functioning and working of CCD with reference to consumer perception and sales strategy. The data will be provided by asking:1.The management of CCD. 2.The consumers that are visiting CCD outlets. Besides collecting the primary data through questionnaire , secondary data will also be collected through magazines, journals ,books , internet . Based on both the data , analysis will be done in the areas of excellence and areas of improvement. The areas of excellence and improvement will be identified on factual information in which recommendations and suggestions will be provided for the overall improvement of the organization. The study will be conducted in CCD of LPU and phagwara. Research Design Types of Research:- Descriptive research. Descriptive research includes surveys and fact findings enquiries of different kinds. The main characteristic of this research is that the researcher has no control over the variables; he can only report what is happening or what has happened already. Data Source The data is collected from both primary and secondary sources. a. Primary sources:= The data will be collected from at least 50 respondents directly. b. Secondary sources:- The secondary data will be collected via online , sales department of CCD and CCD product manuals. Questionnaire Design Appropriate questionnaire will be formed with relevant questions. The questionnaire will help the interviewer to take the interview or take a proper direction. The questionnaire will act as a guide to interviewer to collect all the necessary information and input from the costumer so that the better feedback of the costumer and information about brand awareness can be properly collected. Questionnaire:- The questions that will be presented to costumers will either be open ended or close ended. Open ended:- Allows respondents to answer in their own words and are difficult to interpret and tabulate. Close ended:- Pre specify all the possible answers and are easy to interpret and tabulate. Types Of Questions Included Dichotomous Questions:- Which has only two answers ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Multiple choice :- Costumer is offered more than two options. Importance scale:- A scale that rates the importance of some attribute. Rating scale:- A scale that rates the attribute from ‘highly satisfied’ to ‘highly unsatisfied’ and ‘very inefficient’ to ‘ very efficient’. Sample Design Who is to be surveyed? The market researcher must define the target population that will be sampled. The a sample units that will be taken are:- general public of different age groups , different gender and different genders . Reference 1. Aaker, David,† Building Strong Brands† ,The Free Press, Printed in the United States Of America, Year 1996. 2. Aaker, David,† Strategic Brand Management† ,Prentice Hall, Printed in the United States Of America, Year 1989. Toshowe, Stanley, The Marketing Review – Cafà © Retail, The India chapter, Volume86, Number 336, Jan’2005, page-36. www.cafecoffeeday.com – Search engines – Case Study International coffee organization- Total production of exporting countries. http://www.indiacoffee.org/coffeeinindia/database-jan-2007.htm coffee board of indiadatabase on coffee. 8. A .Santa Ram. Breeding coffee for leaf rust resistance the Indian experience. 9. http://www.indiacoffee.org/coffeeinindia/database_may07-1.pdf coffee board of India area, production, and productivity.

My Personal Philosophy of Early Childhood Education

Belief Statement The home and the early childhood education center happen to be the most important places for the socialization of the child.   As a matter fact, both the home and the early childhood education center are responsible for developing the child – a complete individual.   The child represents the future of my nation and the world at large.   What I want children to be is therefore identical to my vision of an ideal society.   As an early childhood educator, I want to provide the best possible education for my students so they would create the ideal society we all have collectively envisioned. Philosophical Statement All students are capable of learning.   Even so, every child is an individual with learning needs that differ from the needs of his or her peers.   As an early childhood educator it is important to me to teach children with respect to their developmental stage.   At the same time, however, I do not overlook the fact that some of my students could be slower than the rest, while a few may even be gifted.   Nonetheless I would like all my students to get to love learning as much as I do.   For this reason I believe that educators must continue to conduct research on the art and science of teaching, and develop themselves so as to help their students learn as effectively as possible. I further believe that hands-on learning in early childhood education centers is crucial to the development of children.   Human beings learn by doing.   All the same, certain children seem to need more time to reflect on the activities that are assigned in the classroom.   I do not discourage individuality in the classroom, even as I realize that hands-on activities help most students with their social and linguistic skills. In my classroom there are 28 students and the room is not big enough to accommodate center areas.   However, we have made adjustments.   Centers are done at their tables.   Every day, each table does a new center.   (I create 5 per week).   I also have other activities for my students, such as white boards, phonics puzzles, ABC's on cookie sheets, and activities that are exclusively available in dishpans that we refer to as buckets.   When students are done with assigned activities, they get a bucket and find a spot on the floor.   It seems to be working well, as they are learning. I additionally trust the fact that young students need to learn by watching.   I model for my students before we can practice together, after which they complete the activities on their own.   It amazes me how quickly most children are able to learn by watching.   Moreover, it empowers me as an early childhood educator seeing as I am able to influence their thinking in profound ways.   This is the very reason why ethics play a vital role in early childhood education.   Indeed, the early childhood educator must be careful to teach the young only that which he or she would like to experience in the outside world. Raw minds of little children must be nurtured with great gentleness and care.   I consider this a significant issue to discuss with the parents of my students.   After all, early childhood education cannot be complete without the environment that the child is exposed to outside the classroom.   Thus, I am confident that the advice and support of parents helps to make early childhood education more effective.               

Love in Great Expectations and Wuthering Heights essays

Love in Great Expectations and Wuthering Heights essays Love in Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations, both of which are Victorian novels, is under the influence of social status. For example, in Wuthering Heights, the desire for social advancement prompts the first Catherine to marry Edgar regardless of her overpowering love for Heathcliff. Catherine thinks that her marriage to Heathcliff, a lowborn servant, would degrade herself even though she admits that she love Heathcliff so deeply that she and Heathcliff are the same. In Great Expectations, Pip fs love for Estella stings him to the improvement of his social status. In his opinion, only by being a member of Estella fs social class, a gentleman, would he be qualified to marry Estella. What fs worse, Pip fs appreciation of Joe, Biddy, and Magwitch fs love is severely hindered by his zeal for social class. Pip is ashamed of Joe, Biddy, and Magwitch because they are of mean birth and remind him of his low social status. Furthermore, the authors of the two novels, Emily and Dickens, both agree that through forgiveness and repentance love could conquer hatred and save people from miseries. In Wuthering Heights, young Catherine fs regretting her mockeries of Hareton and Hareton fs forgiving her allow them to redeem their past sins and lead them to a happy life. In Great Expectations, Joe and Biddy fs forbearance for Pip fs snobbish behavior and Pip fs sincere repentance for his wrongdoing rescue Pip from his wretched life. However, as a Victorian novel, Wuthering Heights is quite different from its other contemporary novels. Love in Great Expectations is of Victorian styleÃ… ¸ gentle, soft, and permanent while love in Wuthering Heights is ferocious with engrossing passion, usually accompanied by frustration and destruction. Unlike Pip fs love for Estella which is repressed when Pip hears Estella fs marriage to Drummle, love between Catherine and Heathcliff is so overwhelming that it denies changes. Although Catheri...

Forensic Anthropology - Definition and Examples

Forensic Anthropology s Forensic anthropology is the scientific study of human skeletal remains in the context of crime or medico-legal contexts. It is a fairly new and growing discipline that is made up of several branches of academic disciplines brought together to assist in legal cases involving the death and/or identification of individual people.   Key Takeaways: Forensic Anthropology Forensic anthropology is the scientific study of human skeletal remains in the context of crime or natural disaster.  Forensic anthropologists participate in many different tasks during such investigations, from mapping the crime scene to positively identifying the individual from the skeleton.  Forensic anthropology relies on comparative data housed in donated repositories and digital data banks of information. The primary focus of the profession today is determining the identity of a dead person and the cause and manner of that persons death. That focus can include extracting information about the individuals life and condition at death, as well as identifying characteristics revealed within the skeletal remains. When there is soft body tissue still intact, a specialist known as a forensic pathologist is required.  Ã‚   History of the Profession The profession of the forensic anthropologist is a relatively recent outgrowth from the broader field of forensic sciences in general. Forensic science is a field which has its roots at the end of the 19th century, but it didnt become a widely practiced professional endeavor until the 1950s. Early anthropologically-minded practitioners such as Wilton Marion Krogman, T.D. Steward, J. Lawrence Angel, and A.M. Brues were pioneers in the field. Sections of the field dedicated to anthropology - the study of human skeletal remains - began in the United States in the 1970s, with the efforts of pioneer forensic anthropologist Clyde Snow.  Ã‚   Forensic anthropology began with scientists dedicated to determining the big four of any one set of skeletal remains: age at death, sex, ancestry or ethnicity, and stature. Forensic anthropology is an outgrowth of physical anthropology because the first people who attempted to determine the big four from skeletal remains were primarily interested in the growth, nutrition, and demography of past civilizations. Since those days, and largely due to an enormous number and variety of scientific advances, forensic anthropology now includes the study of both the living and the dead. In addition, scholars strive to collect information in the form of databases and human remains repositories, that allow continuing research in the scientific repeatability of forensic anthropological studies.   Major Focus Forensic anthropologists study human remains, with particular respect to the identification of the individual person from those remains. Studies include everything from single homicide cases to mass death scenarios created by terrorist activities such as the World Trade Center on 9/11; mass transit crashes of planes, buses, and trains; and natural disasters such as wildfires, hurricanes, and tsunamis.   Today, forensic anthropologists are involved in a wide range of aspects of crimes and disasters involving human deaths.   Scene of the crime mapping - sometimes known as forensic archaeology, because it involves using archaeological techniques to recover information at crime scenesSearch and recovery of remains - fragmented human remains are difficult for non-specialists to identify in the fieldSpecies identification - mass events often include other life formsPostmortem interval - determining how long ago the death occurredTaphonomy - what kinds of weathering events have affected the remains since the deathTrauma analysis - identifying the cause and manner of deathCraniofacial reconstructions or, more properly, facial approximationsPathologies of the deceased- what kinds of things did the living person suffered fromPositive identification of human remains  Acting as expert witnesses in court cases Forensic anthropologists also study the living, identifying individual perpetrators from surveillance tapes, determining the age of individuals to define their culpability for their crimes, and determining the age of subadults in confiscated child pornography.   A Wide Range of Tools   Forensic anthropologists use a wide range of tools in their business, including forensic botany and zoology, chemical and elemental trace analysis, and genetic studies with DNA. For example, determining the age of death can be a matter of synthesizing the results of what an individuals teeth look like - are they fully erupted, how much are they worn - combined with other metrics considering things like the progression of epiphyseal closure, and the centers of ossification - human bones become harder as a person ages. Scientific measurements of bones may be achieved in part by radiography (photo-imaging of the bone), or histology (cutting cross-sections of the bones).  Ã‚   These measurements are then compared against databases of previous studies of humans of every age, size, and ethnicity. Human remains repositories such as those at the Smithsonian Institution and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History were assembled by scientists in the 19th and early 20th centuries largely without the consent of the culture being collected. They were incredibly important to the early growth of the field.   However, beginning in the 1970s, shifts in political and cultural power in western societies have resulted in the reburial of many of these remains. The older repositories have largely been supplanted by collections of donated remains such as those at the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection, and digital repositories such as the Forensic Anthropology Data Bank, both of which are housed at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.   Significant Studies   The most publicly visible aspect of forensic anthropology, outside of the wildly popular CSI series of television shows, is the identification of historically important persons. Forensic anthropologists have identified or attempted to identify people such as the 16th-century Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, the 18th-century Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the 15th-century English king Richard III, and the 20th-century U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Early mass projects included identifying the victims of the 1979 DC10 crash in Chicago; and the ongoing investigations into Los Desaparecidos, thousands of missing Argentine dissidents murdered during the Dirty War. Forensic science is not infallible, however. Positive identification of an individual is limited to dental charts, congenital abnormalities, unique features such as previous pathology or trauma, or, best of all, DNA sequencing if the likely identity of the person is known and there are living relatives who are willing to help.   Recent changes in legal issues resulted in the Daubert standard, a rule of evidence for expert witness testimony agreed upon by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993 (Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 584-587). This decision affects forensic anthropologists because the theory or techniques that they use to testify in court cases must be generally accepted by the scientific community. In addition, the results must be testable, replicable, reliable, and created by scientifically valid methods developed outside of the current court case.   Sources   Anthropologists and Archeologist. Occupational Outlook Handbook. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor 2018. Web.  Blau, Soren, and Christopher A. Briggs. The Role of Forensic Anthropology in Disaster Victim Identification (DVI). Forensic Science International 205.1 (2011): 29-35. Print.Cattaneo, Cristina. Forensic Anthropology: Developments of a Classical Discipline in the New Millennium. Forensic Science International 165.2 (2007): 185-93. Print.Dirkmaat, Dennis C., et al. New Perspectives in Forensic Anthropology. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 137.47 (2008): 33-52. Print.Franklin, Daniel. Forensic Age Estimation in Human Skeletal . Legal Medicine 12.1 (2010): 1-7. Print.Remains: Current Concepts and Future DirectionsYaÅŸar IÅŸcan, Mehmet. Rise of Forensic Anthropology. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 31.9 (1988): 203-29. Print.

Prothesis in English grammar

Prothesis in English grammar Prothesis is a term used in phonetics and phonology to refer to the addition of a  syllable  or  a sound (usually a vowel) to the beginning of a word (for example, especial). Adjective: prothetic. Also called intrusion or  word-initial epenthesis.   Linguist David Crystal notes that the phenomenon of prothesis is common both in historical change  . . .  and in connected speech (A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 1997).   The opposite of prothesis is aphesis  (or  aphaeresis  or procope)that is, the  loss of a short unaccented vowel  (or syllable) at the beginning of a word.   The intrusion of an extra sound at the end of a word (for example, whilst) is called epithesis or  paragoge. The intrusion of a sound between two consonants in the middle of a word (for example, fillum for film) is called anaptyxis or, more generally, epenthesis. Examples and Observations And its a hard, and its a hard, its a hard, its a hard,And its a hard rains a-gonna fall.(Bob Dylan, A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall. The Freewheelin Bob Dylan, 1962)My characters will hence forth go afishing, and they will read Afield Astream. Some of them, perhaps all of them, will be asexual.(E.B. White in a letter to a New Yorker editor who changed the word fresh to afresh in one of his essays)[A prothetic sound is a vowel etc.] that has developed historically at the beginning of a word. E.g. the e of establish is in origin a prothetic vowel in Old French establir, from Latin stabilire.(P.H. Matthews, Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2007)Old fond eyes, beweep this cause again.(King Lear in The Tragedy of King Lear, by William Shakespeare)

Community Organizing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Community Organizing - Assignment Example Next, with the help of local leaders, the organizer mobilizes the public and creates awareness on the issue at hand. Once society members are full participants, social planning and social action follow (McKenzie, Neiger & Thackeray, 2012). This involves coming up with the means to carry out a project and the actual process of implementing the project. Evaluation follows to study the success of the action and make adjustments if necessary. In this step, accomplishments get acknowledgement and lessons on how to improve future mobilizations noted. The community organizations get formalization after engaging in social action. Once this happens, the last step occurs. It involves the organizer leaving and the people taking over entirely. Community organization is an empowering process and, therefore, an organizer needs to leave once to let the empowered people carry on from there. In building community support for a health intervention, the social action step is the most crucial. This is because it involves the actual implementation of the project meant to improve health systems in a society. Social action is an act of power that proves indeed social organization and empowerment

Journaling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Journaling - Essay Example We encountered a case of a staff who entered an isolation room without proper equipment. This case enabled us to carry out reinforcement and re-education for all staff to ensure they understood the importance of complying with the infection compliance policy. At the end of the week, analysis showed that there was reduced isolation in the second week doing rounds and feedback sent to relevant heads. This week’s objective was to ensure that proper plans were implemented to improve care of delivery. We encountered a case of a minor being left in the inpatient units for about half an hour and immediately alerted the parents of the minor and handed them with a print out of the policy that prohibited such minors in the wards. According to Zaccagnini & White (2011), this is to ensure hospital acquired infections are avoided. It was my final week for my practicum experience, two infection control staff that I was working with evaluated me, and the results were impressive. Later in the final day, I also met with my preceptor and showed my appreciation for the assistance throughout the four

Research Process for the Rights of the Mentally Ill to Have Children Paper

Process for the Rights of the Mentally Ill to Have Children - Research Paper Example Literature Review Nicholson et al. (1993) conducted a study to find out whether the state departments of mental health of sixteen states are giving enough healthcare rights to mentally ill women who have preschool aged children. They found that not many states had satisfying policies to provide outpatient services to mentally ill women, and there were no policies regarding the visitation of their children to them when they were hospitalized. This study shows that much improvement is needed in this area and insufficient healthcare is restricting the rights of the mentally ill to look after their children properly. Jacobsen and Miller (1998) conducted their research on mentally ill mothers to find out if they are capable of looking after their children properly. They found that many mentally ill parents are deprived the right of their children’s custody â€Å"due to child abuse or neglect†, due to which the children have to live in foster care. The researchers claim that since parents with long chronic mental illnesses cannot ensure safe parenting, hence they should be denied their parental rights. Feldman, Stiffman and Jung state in their study that children of mentally ill parents are likely to suffer from many behavioral disorders (1987). The researchers studied 306 children of ages between six and sixteen. They found that the children had disturbed relationships with their mentally ill parents because the parents could not provide them with secure family environment. This study supports the fact that mentally ill parents are not able to care for their children properly. Cohler et al. (1980) compared the two groups of participants, one of which consisted of mothers who were discharged from psychiatric hospitals and the other one consisted of normal mothers to find out â€Å"child rearing attitudes and adaptation to adult social roles†. They found that mentally ill mothers were unable to foster healthy relationships with their children and could not differentiate between their own and children’s needs. This hindered with the children’s abilities to adapt adult roles later in life. Gamer et al. (1977) had also reached the same conclusion earlier in 1977 when they conducted their research on three year old children performing an interaction task with their well and mentally ill mothers suffering from psychosis. They found that there were â€Å"differences in the pattern of intercorrelations among these interaction variables between the two groups† (Gamer et al., 1977). Bagedahl-Strindlund (1986) found that acute mental illness was positively related to pregnancy complications. They studied pregnant mothers admitted in psychiatric hospitals and found that delivery complications were also there in those patients who showed prepartum onset of mental illness. Mentally ill mothers also had a history of more abortions than well women. Mohit (1996) supported this research by finding in their research that seriously mentally ill mothers underwent frequent psychiatric hospitalization due to motherhood strain. This study helps prove that mentally ill mothers are not able to cope with motherhood roles efficiently. Stanton, Simpson and Wouldes (1999) found that mentally ill mothers are also involved in filicide. They interviewed mentally ill women who pretended to be very caring toward their children but at the same time regretted the killing of their children under unexplainable intentions. Research Question The research question formulated is that: Are the mentally ill able to bear and

No chosen yet (sociology) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

No chosen yet (sociology) - Essay Example Oneida community is a religious commune founded in 1848 by John Humphrey Noyes. This organization practices communalism where the members practice communal labor in which men and women have to work together and become an engaging community. Not only labor did members come together but in almost any occasions. Members likewise participate in enjoyment and self improvement thus they are not left in solitude. How the community worked and lived together in a â€Å"Mansion House† painted an unusual picture of a rich and happy community. Complex marriage is also practiced where in men are married to every women and women are married to every men. Other practices of the community include mutual criticism and ascending Fellowship. After many years of existence, the community later transformed into a capitalist enterprise known as the Oneida community, Ltd. (Olin, 1). Today, Oneida’s â€Å"Mansion House† serves as a tourist attraction. The Church of Scientology is another organization founded by Lon Hubbard with the goal to promote scientology. Under the organization are several separate incorporations with their own local boards, executives and directors responsible for the activities of each corporate and ecclesiastical. Members are taught that people are immortal spiritual being who have forgotten their own nature. In addition to this teaching, the organization believes that the experience of man could be extended beyond a single lifetime with unlimited capabilities. Thus they believe that events in the past affect the present limitations. Furthermore, they consider that man is good who seek to survive. However, his survival depends on him, his fellows, and his attainment of brotherhood in the universe. They also practice giving study materials and auditing course but with a corresponding donations. Just like Oneida, the Church of Scientology has its own controversy. Many believed that it operates as a cult and as a commercial enterprise. The Mor mons is founded by Joseph Smith in 1820. The name Mormons refer to the followers and their religion Mormonism. This cultural group is a form of Christian primitivism where other small independent denominations were based. The movement seeks maintain doctrines that supports the practice of polygamy. The members share a common belief with the Latter day Saint movement where they adopt teachings from the Bible especially the old testament, other religious texts, Books of Mormons, doctrines and covenants. The movement also accepts the Pearl of Great Price as part of their canon. Mormons believe in the Living Christ and the importance of eternal marriage. The Jehovah witness is founded by Charles Taze Russell in 1870’s with members that is over 18 millions. Jehovah base their teachings solely from the Bible however they have they own translation that they prefer to use. They believe in the destruction of the earth which they refer to as Armageddon. They claim that the only solutio n to all problems of human kind would be the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Jehovah witnesses are known for several activities. They are the religious group distributing The Watchtower and Awake magazines. They are known for their door to door teaching of their translated Bible, the New World translation of the Holy Scriptures, and are known not to accept military services and blood donation and transfusion. These religious organizations become a sociological interest because some of their practices are considered bizarre by

English paper book write up Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

English paper book write up - Essay Example All this changes when he meets a wannabe thug named Cleveland, and they explore a darker side of Pittsburgh together. Without any real direction, Art decides to discover a more dangerous life than what he had previously known. Art, being the son of a gangster, feels unable to express his sexual confusions openly with his family. The novel centers on the struggles of the protagonist as he searches for ways to satisfy his own desires while living up to his father’s expectations. As we find in the book, this isn’t a possibility. The book handles the issues of the main character’s sexuality very plausibly. The reader can feel his frustration and see his confusion as he goes back and forth between heterosexual lovers and homosexual lovers. Many of the characters, in fact, seem to have an overwhelming sense of uncertainty, except for Phlox and her unsympathetic views of homosexuals. The book relies heavily on its setting to influence the mood of the book. Growing in Pittsburgh himself and attending the University of Pittsburgh, Chabon was right at home as he was describing his characters walking through Oakland, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, amongst other locations. The industrious nature of the city also adds to the rather bleak nature. The â€Å"cloud factory,† one of the many factories of Pittsburgh, also plays an important role later on in the book. Set in the mid-80’s the characters are constantly making pop-culture references, perhaps as an ode to Andy Warhol’s pop art as Warhol was another Pittsburgh native. Chabon’s prose is very fluid, and the descriptions he gives of the city of Pittsburgh paints the city very vividly. The bleak landscape becomes very real for the reader. However, sometimes his penchant for creating interesting writing goes too far, and some of the dialogue between characters tends to be lofty and unrealistic. This can be a bit

Profile in Leadership Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Profile in Leadership - Term Paper Example nd of the coin is the pro choice debate that believes that a fetus does not have rights and whether to abort pregnancy or not is dependant on the fetus’ mother. According to the pro-life opinion and even according to the pro-choice opinion, a fetus has similar rights that are entitled to a human being (GeÃŒ rard 138). But pro-choice perspective states that a fetus does not have the ability to make decisions and have no self awareness. Pro-life perspective counters this argument by stating that individuals who are regarded as adults, and are retarded, do not have ability to make reasonable decisions and experience lack of self awareness. Pro-life advocates state that if a fetus is a human being, he has rights and by aborting a fetus, the society takes away the fetus’ right to make decisions and choose what is best for himself. Pro-choice advocates state that a fetus is not a fully developed individual and does not have any human rights and by not allowing a female to abort pregnancy, the law and the society is infringing upon the rights of the women to decide what is good for her (Panza 235). For this purpose, pro-choice take a utilitarian stance and state that those decisions should considered as right that have the highest number of positive benefits as compared to the costs that are incurred due to that particular action (Soble 6). Several advantages have been figured out that are achieved by the society if abortion takes place. These advantages include population control and well being of the society. The cost is the death of a fetus which does not even have complete human rights. Pro-life advocates even take a religious stand and state that a fetus is a human life and all living individuals are sacred and the decision of life and death is in the hands of God so abortion should not take place as by aborting, individuals are working against God’s will. Abortion leads to cognitive dissonance among health care professionals, health care professionals have

English paper book write up Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

English paper book write up - Essay Example All this changes when he meets a wannabe thug named Cleveland, and they explore a darker side of Pittsburgh together. Without any real direction, Art decides to discover a more dangerous life than what he had previously known. Art, being the son of a gangster, feels unable to express his sexual confusions openly with his family. The novel centers on the struggles of the protagonist as he searches for ways to satisfy his own desires while living up to his father’s expectations. As we find in the book, this isn’t a possibility. The book handles the issues of the main character’s sexuality very plausibly. The reader can feel his frustration and see his confusion as he goes back and forth between heterosexual lovers and homosexual lovers. Many of the characters, in fact, seem to have an overwhelming sense of uncertainty, except for Phlox and her unsympathetic views of homosexuals. The book relies heavily on its setting to influence the mood of the book. Growing in Pittsburgh himself and attending the University of Pittsburgh, Chabon was right at home as he was describing his characters walking through Oakland, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, amongst other locations. The industrious nature of the city also adds to the rather bleak nature. The â€Å"cloud factory,† one of the many factories of Pittsburgh, also plays an important role later on in the book. Set in the mid-80’s the characters are constantly making pop-culture references, perhaps as an ode to Andy Warhol’s pop art as Warhol was another Pittsburgh native. Chabon’s prose is very fluid, and the descriptions he gives of the city of Pittsburgh paints the city very vividly. The bleak landscape becomes very real for the reader. However, sometimes his penchant for creating interesting writing goes too far, and some of the dialogue between characters tends to be lofty and unrealistic. This can be a bit

Logistics and Supply Chain Essay Example for Free

Logistics and Supply Chain Essay Supply Chain Management Review introduces a new series called â€Å"Back to Basics. † It’s a look into how excellence in the core logistics and supply chain activities leads to overall business success. The articles in this seven-part series are written by educators from the University of Tennessee. Pictured: Wendy L. Tate, Assistant Professor of Logistics, Department of Marketing and Logistics, University of Tennessee. By Wendy L. Tate, Assistant Professor of Logistics, Department of Marketing and Logistics, University of Tennessee October 21, 2010  Globalization, increased competition, fluctuating availability of raw materials and pricing conditions have increased the need for better management of the suppliers who provide goods and services to the organization. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the cost of purchased materials is approximately 54% of the value of shipments for manufacturers. Also, the cost of services that organizations purchase is continuing to increase as firms try to focus on what they do best. More emphasis is being placed on spend management and on those that are responsible for locating and managing the suppliers that provide the materials and services needed to meet customer expectations. Sourcing and procurement are generally responsible for this task. A focus on spend management is not new to the purchasing area. But the increasing magnitude of requested reductions is driving purchasing departments to think creatively about ways to more strategically manage the supply base and continue to drive unnecessary costs from everyday purchases. The task of sourcing and procurement professionals is to find an effective means to balance the demands of both internal and external customers with economic considerations while taking into account the potential for supply disruption and technological change. The challenge is to establish both the philosophy and practice of an integrated supply system as part of the firm’s strategic positioning. Strategic purchasing involves finding ways to use supplier capabilities to drive sales, leverage the purchasing spend to achieve and/or maintain competitive advantage, and use the supply market to strengthen the company’s strategic position. Historically, purchasing has been overlooked as a strategic contributor and instead viewed as more of a tactical function with a largely internal focus. The tendency of even the most seasoned buyers has been to react to problems rather than proactively incorporate the strategic focus needed to support the current operating environment. The primary focus of procurement is to support the firm’s operational requirements by ensuring uninterrupted flow of the appropriate quality materials, products, and services. However, purchasers must do so in the most efficient and effective manner, in light of limited resources. The key for sourcing managers is to minimize risk to the organization. To minimize vulnerabilities in supply and make the most of the organization’s buying power, purchasers should assess and segment purchased materials, services, and components in terms of importance to the organization and difficulty in accessing the materials. This segmentation process allows purchasers to take a more strategic perspective on the management of the supplies and the supply base while applying more appropriate cost management tools and negotiation strategies. Using the segmentation system developed by Kraljic (1983) as a foundation, four major categories emerge (see Figure 1). Noncritical (low importance, low supply risk), leverage (high importance, low supply risk), strategic (high importance, high supply risk), and bottleneck (low importance, high supply risk). Each of the categories requires a distinctive and strategic purchasing approach. Each of these classifications will be described in the paragraphs below. In the case of non-critical, or generic purchases, the focus is on finding the lowest possible purchase price from a field of many suppliers. For these types of items, there are low switching costs allowing for easy â€Å"supplier hopping†. Typical procurement approaches to these types of purchases include the use of purchasing cards (p-cards) and short-term contracts. Relationships with the suppliers of these types of products are often arms-length and transactional. Office supplies and paper purchases typically fall into this category. Buyers use competitive bidding, price indices, price lists and catalogs to facilitate the buying process. The suppliers of these types of materials and services understand that low price and ease of purchase are key to retaining buyers. Staples, for example, introduced the â€Å"Easy Button†. Buyers that are in the market for office supplies can download software directly to their computer, shop from on-line catalogs, and use their p-cards to streamline the purchases of these generic items. Many suppliers are capable of providing the products and services that fall into the leverage category; these are the more â€Å"commodity-type† items. These types of products and services have a great importance to the organization in terms of volume purchased, percentage of total purchase cost, or impact on product quality or business growth. The purchasing decision for these items is generally based on consolidation, leveraging volumes is key to success. Some approaches used to leverage volume include supply base reduction and reverse auctions. The idea is to combine the requirements of different operating units and capitalize on supplier fixed cost allocation and improved productivity. The following example makes the point. A technology company had multiple business units all with individuals responsible for the purchase of customer contact center services. Through informal discussions about the performance of the suppliers of these services, the heads of the business units discovered that some were using the same suppliers, but being charged different rates and there were multiple suppliers providing almost identical services across the organization. The purchasing area was called in to help better manage the purchase of these services. They followed a typical sourcing process (see Figure 2) and put these services out for bid to both existing and new suppliers. The final pool of suppliers included fewer suppliers, volumes were leveraged, the price that was being paid ultimately fell, and the relationship with the suppliers improved. The company instituted a single point of contact for the suppliers and an end-to-end procure to pay management process (Ellram and Tate, 2004). The strategic items have more complexity and risk involved in the purchase often because of limited availability or fewer suppliers with the technical capabilities to provide the goods or services. These are the items that are the most critical for the organization to obtain to ensure success and meet the demand for products. There is much more collaboration and integration between the buying and supplying firm with a focus on continuous improvement. Buying firms often enter into long term, cost-based contracts with the suppliers of these items and may in fact engage the suppliers early in the process of new product development. Buyers look to these suppliers for innovation and cost reduction ideas. Ford and Mobil for example entered into a broad based trategic alliance to speed the development and integration of break-through fuel and vehicle technologies (Dieselnet, 1998). The intent of these strategic alliances is to help strengthen collaboration, and develop a sustainable business model. Bottleneck items, or items that are more project oriented or unique, have a high level of supply market complexity. These types of purchases often consume a disproportionate amount of time, relative to the item’s value. The focus for purchasing is to simplify the procurement of these items, or if possible get it out of this quadrant and into the leverage or strategic quadrants. Companies buying products or services that fall in the category could participate in buying consortiums to better leverage the spend and minimize the associated risk. For example, a utility company was paying a significant amount of money to audit their suppliers. A number of their competitors were using the same suppliers and spending the same money for the audits. These companies agreed to hire a third party to perform the audits, thus consolidating the spend and simplifying the purchase. Another company was procuring project-based environmental services. Each project required the buyer to closely manage the supplier to ensure that each step in the process was completed in a timely and accurate fashion and that payments were made as promised. There were many of these projects occurring simultaneously with different suppliers. One supplier became an â€Å"expert† in this area allowing the buying firm to assign the supplier more projects, thus increasing the level of importance and moving it to the strategic category. Successful managers today require a broad view of the procurement and sourcing areas and the strategic role that this function can play in an integrated supply chain. Organizations need to take a long-term perspective, avoiding the low price sourcing temptation without considering the total cost and the total value provided by the function and its relationship to the supply base. Purchasing needs to strategically manage its supplies and its supply base. The first step in doing this is to understand what is being purchased, the importance of the purchase to the organization, and the complexity of the supply market. The goal is to ensure that the supplies that are purchased add value to the customer’s that ultimately buy our goods and services.

Children Born Into Families With Mental Illness Social Work Essay

Children Born Into Families With Mental Illness Social Work Essay With an apparent increase in the number of children born to parents experiencing mental illness many issues have been raised concerning parenting capacity and the welfare and development of these children. This has many implications for social work practice in both Childrens Teams and Community Mental Health Teams and also for future policy development and service provision. Within this dissertation it is my intention to explore that the mentally ill are indeed capable of parenting their children safely and effectively and attempt to disprove the suggestion that mentally ill parents are unsafe and incapable. Adults with mental health problems are one of the most excluded groups in society, however many are also parents and may need support to care for their children safely (Garley et al 1997). This means that service provision must encompass the needs of both parents and their children and assessments must take into account the needs of both these vulnerable groups. The human cost for parents with mental ill health is in attempting to parent their children in the face of stigma and adversities. Social Workers do not only need to support these parents but they also need to challenge the stigmas and adversities perpetuated by society. Society has perceptions of people with mental illness and this is largely negative, with the greatest misunderstandings being the perceptions of the more severe mental health conditions. Severe mental health conditions such as schizophrenia although not as prevalent as the depressive disorders are thought to affect one in two hundred adults each year (Mental Health and Social Exclusion Report 2004) and these conditions have a wider impact on the lives of the family, friends and community. It is widely recognised that one in four people of working age experience mental ill health at some point in their life, (Office for National Statistics 2008) but these problems can present in a variety of ways, depending upon the individual and their circumstances. What perhaps is most important to consider is how the person presents in relation to what is normal for them. Any great changes in mood or behaviour can be important indicators of deterioration in mental health, but it is clear that it would be dangerous to view this in isolation. It is therefore important to recognise that we all may experience various degrees of mental difficulty at some point in our lifetime. People with good mental health can; develop emotionally, creatively, intellectually and spiritually. They are able to initiate, develop and sustain mutually satisfying personal relationships; they can face problems, resolve and learn from them. They can be confident and assertive, are aware of others and have an ability to empathise; they can use and enjoy fun as well as laugh at themselves and the world. Good mental health is not something we have, but something that we do to take care of ourselves and value who we are as people (www.pmhcwn.org). However people experiencing mental illness do not always possess these attributes therefore need support to achieve wellness. To make the distinction between people who have children and then develop a mental illness or those who have a diagnosed condition before they have children the focus will be on the experiences of those people with mental illness who become parents and so have already been living with their condition or diagnosis. The aim of my dissertation will be to explore these issues by critically examining current research, practice, service provision and policy. This will be in the form of a literature based review where I want to question whether people with mental health issues can indeed parent their children safely. Firstly the Methodology used to assimilate the research will be examined with an explanation of the methods selected. Chapter One will define mental health, then focus on the historical context, policy and legislation and on the theories and approaches to ways of working considering the challenges that the social workforce face in supporting service users with mental health needs. Chapter Two will explore the experience of those parents with mental health problems; consider the capacity of people with mental health problems and the experiences of children of the mentally ill. This will be considered, from both a childs and a parents perspective. Chapter Three will focus on the main theme s to emerge from my research which are stigma, risk, resilience and attachment. The Results and Findings will be explored which will discuss the findings and present an overview of common themes which have emerged. The Conclusion will then draw together all the information gathered. Methodology When approaching this dissertation the decision was made to conduct a literature review of the research currently available. This was because mental health is an area of interest and combined with a placement in a childrens team, where it became obvious that many parents experience mental health issues it was an opportunity to combine the two areas. Previously the author has worked in a statutory provision which was a service supporting children and young people experiencing mental health issues and also had a placement in a community mental health team. All of these experiences have made the author inquisitive to the difficulties that parents encounter when attempting to take care of their children and the views of services of their abilities to do so. The search strategy used to locate appropriate material was to consider the various terms used when thinking about parental mental illness. Therefore a decision was made to search for the following terms; parental mental illness, children living with the mental illness of parents and capacity of parents with mental illness. When further considering what needed to be learnt, the terms; risk of children with mentally ill parents and resilience of children with mentally ill parents were then explored as were attachment of mentally ill parents and stigma and mental health. The concentration was on English speaking countries and so research was drawn together from Great Britain, Ireland, The United States of America and Australia. This was felt to be the most pertinent approach, as to broaden the search to further countries could create too much information and a difficulty in assimilating the research. Various databases were searched which included; Science Direct, Jstor and SwetsWise. T he British Journal of Psychology, The British Journal of Social Work and Social Care Institute for Excellence proved to be invaluable as did the various mental health websites such as MIND. Government reports and Department of Health documentation added a further breadth to the research which was drawn together. This search produced a significant number of journal articles in the area which were appropriate for the purpose, and coupled with mental health websites and books on parenting capacity a rich variety of material was gathered. The information further obtained from legislation and policy documentation was also invaluable. If there had been the time to explore this area in further detail it would have been suitable to have conducted a focus group amongst service users within the mental ill health community. From the research available it is clear that this research method was considered to be the most rewarding as service users felt the least threatened by the process (Garley et al 1997). It also garnered the most honesty from the participants and clarity of their experiences. They had felt safe in the knowledge that their recounting of their experiences would not be judged and their parenting abilities would be afforded due respect. Another option could possibly have been to send out questionnaires to ascertain the level of support service users felt they were receiving from community mental health teams and childrens services. However this method may not have produced such a wealth of results as it would not have been a face to face intervention. When viewing research, non face to face approaches have sometimes not been as well responded to by prospective participants. Chapter One This chapter will focus on how mental illness is defined; look at the historical context of mental illness service provision, the legislation and policy documentation and approaches and theories to ways of working. Defining Mental Illness Mental illness can affect one in four adults of working age at some point in their life, according to the World Health Foundation (2001). This demonstrates how prevalent mental illness is within our communities and how anyone can be affected by it at some point in their lifetime. However mental illness is defined by society in a variety of ways; there is the legal definition, clinical definitions and popular public misconceptions. This sections aim is to identify the three definitions of mental illness when considering the legal, clinical and public meanings. Mental disorder is defined in a legal context as arrested or incomplete development of mind, psychopathic disorder or any other disorder or disability of the mind (www.yourrights.org.uk). There are various definitions of mental health and amongst these the Mental Health Act 1983 offers three different definitions for mental disorder: severe mental impairment, which is defined as a state of arrested or incomplete development of mind which includes severe impairment of intelligence and social functioning and is associated with abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible conduct on the part of the person concerned (Mental Health Act 1983, Part 1). Mental impairment, which is defined as a state of arrested or incomplete development of mind (not amounting to a severe mental impairment) which includes severe impairment of intelligence and social functioning and is associated with abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible conduct on the part of the person concerned ( MHA 1983, P art 1). Then psychopathic disorder which is defined as a persistent disorder or disability of mind (whether or not including significant impairment of intelligence) which results in abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible conduct on the part of the person concerned ( MHA 1983, Part 1). However the 2007 Mental Health Act amendments changes the way the 1983 act defines mental disorder, so that a single definition applies throughout and abolishes references to categories of disorder( MHA 2007) The clinical definition comes from ICD-10, which is the International Classification of Diseases which was approved by the forty-third World Health Assembly in May 1990 and came into use in World Health Organisation member countries as from 1994. It is the international model for diagnostic categorisation of all general epidemiological conditions and health management. Within the ICD-10 there is classification of mental illness and mental disorders and this is used by clinicians to diagnose and therefore treat those people with mental illness. The foremost definition used is that any of various psychiatric conditions, usually characterised by impairment of an individuals normal cognitive, emotional, or behavioural functioning, and caused by physiological or psychosocial factors (ICD-10 Chapter V). When considering the public perceptions of mental illness, what is clear are the many negative perceptions of mental illnesses and disorders. The stigma that goes along with being labelled as having a mental illness can have far reaching consequences and needs to be challenged as a social injustice for this group (Cleaver et al 1999). Stigma is largely a social construct, in that society reacts negatively as a result of being fed sensationalist stories by the media. The Mental Health Knowledge Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry within the Maudsley Clinic London aims to promote change in public perception by addressing attitudes towards mental health conditions. The aim is that this will be achieved through ongoing public engagement activities and providing information for friends, families and carers of those with mental illness. Also initiatives such as World Mental Health Day endeavour to change public perceptions by bringing the conditions into the public arena. People experiencing mental disorders are often excluded from some societal norms due to a lack of knowledge or fear on behalf of the community as the Mental Health and Social Exclusion Report of 2004 puts this Mental health problems can be both a cause and a consequence of social exclusion (Mental Health and Social Exclusion Report 2004 p11). What is known is that mental health problems can affect anyone at any point in their life. However the debates around the differing definitions of mental health are important to discuss in relation to exploring the issues for people with mental health problems who are also parents. Stereotypical views of people with mental illness are that they are violent, unstable, and irrational and therefore their abilities to parent are questionable. These perceptions have been perpetuated by an ignorant society and need to be challenged. The Office for National Statistics has collected data to illustrate the prevalence of common mental health problems in the general population (see fig 1). Figure 1: Office for National Statistics (2000) Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. According to the Office for National Statistics the average age of early onset psychosis is twenty-two, but up to half of mental health problems start in childhood. For men, the age at which common mental health problems peak is forty-five to forty-nine years and for women fifty-fifty-four years. When looking at the statistics in terms of gender prevalence, women experience higher rates of problems than men and their experiences tend to last longer with greater occurrences of relapse. However what is known is that young men aged twenty-five to thirty-four are the highest risk group for suicide (Office for National Statistics 2000). Mental health illness is referred to in a variety of ways in the literature and research; therefore for the purposes of this paper, mental illness, mental ill health and mental health problems will be used interchangeably with the main emphasis being placed on the conditions of schizophrenia and psychosis rather than the depressive conditions.    Schizophrenia is a diagnosis given to some people who are experiencing severely disrupted beliefs and experiences.  Ã‚  During an episode, a persons experience and interpretation of the outside world is disrupted. They may experience hallucinations, lose touch with reality or see or hear things that are not there and act in unusual ways. An episode of schizophrenia can last for several weeks and can be very frightening (www.rethink.org). An episode of psychosis can be experienced in much the same way. However to appreciate contemporary understanding of mental illness, the historical context needs to be explained and how parents have been viewed by society. Historical Context Historically those individuals who experience mental illness may be treated for their condition by their local General Practitioner in the local community, however those individuals who require more intensive interventions may fall under the support of The Mental Health Act 1983. Following years of the institutionalisation of individuals with mental health disorders came the Mental Health Act 1983, which made provision for these people to be supported in the community. This important legislation made provision for the safety and well being of those people experiencing mental distress. For the first time, mental illness was recognised as a condition that could be managed in the community and newly formed community mental health teams would be the people to assist. The Mental Health Act 1983 made provision for individuals needing treatment to be detained under section, which meant that they could be legally detained to ensure that appropriate treatment was administered either in the fo rm of therapeutic intervention and or medication. This act was further amended in 2007, where one of the main amendments was to make provision for Community Treatment Order (CTO). This declared that a patient could be re-called for treatment in hospital if they had been discharged into the community and were not complying with the restrictions of their order. Policies imposed by local authorities must work within the guidelines of both The Mental Health Acts 1983 and 2007 and The Children Act 1989 in conjunction with the Care Programme Approach 2008. These government laws state how the care and treatment of people with mental health and the care and protection of children should be managed. A comprehensive care plan should address all the issues around the person and allow for their ability to parent by assessing their parenting capacity. Every Child Matters (2002) was one such provision developed to support children, the main duties being to cooperate and improve well-being, and to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in England (www.everychildmatters.gov.uk ). Every Child Matters was developed following Lord Lamings report of 2002 which was implemented following Victoria Climbià ©s death in 2000. He highlighted within his report that a lack of integrative working across the different services and agencies had contributed to Victorias death. Every Child Matters legislates for improving information sharing between agencies to ensure the safety of children known to local authorities and this would be done by reducing the technical difficulties with the different interfaces used by the diverse services (ECM 2002). A huge challenge to overcome with much work still needed in this area as health, education and social services remain largely fragmented (ECM 2002). To attempt to overcome this, a common assessme nt framework was devised across services to ensure the information followed each child and reducing the necessity for duplication of information. These tools were then used to ensure that if a parent came to the attention of mental health services then the worker would be able to instantly determine if their children were also known to childrens services. Legislation and Policy Documentation The National Service Framework for Mental Health, from the Department of Health (1999) document states that local authorities have a duty to provide effective services for people with mental illnesses. Its aim is for individuals, who may or may not be parents, with a severe mental illness to be able to access and receive the range of mental health services that they need and consequently crises will be anticipated and averted. Therefore even if a parent is considered to pose a threat to their child they should be maintained with parenting support in advance. The recommendation being that there will be the integration of health and social care services with a strong emphasis on Interprofessional collaboration and this joined up working will promote the active participation of service users. The Mental Health and Social Exclusion Report of 2004 activated by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister detailed in action sixteen better support for parents and their children (Mental Health and Exclusion Report 2004 p105). This challenge was taken up by the Action Sixteen Group who would review its implementation. This body comprised of ;the Social Care Institute for Excellence, Barnardos, the Department of Health, National Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services Support Service, Family Action and the Mental Health Commission. This membership of the Action Sixteen Group brought together professionals who were dedicated to improving outcomes for parents affected by mental illness and their children. The key messages to emerge from their discussions were that the mental health services should think family (www.scie.org.uk). This would be achieved by improved awareness, sharing of information across services and the development of resources for positive practice. Action Sixteen worked together to review the existing provisions for parents with mental health needs, including the needs of mentally unwell parents who were also belonging to an ethnic minority group and or were also disabled parents. It determined that parents need to be enabled to lead fulfilling lives in the way that they chose. That sigma and discrimination must be challenged and the rights of parents must be promoted, social exclusion must be confronted through implementing evidence-based practice and getting the basics in order must be a priority (Fowler et al 2009). This means enabling mentally ill parents to have access to decent housing, advice on finance and benefits, training and employment. (Fowler et al 2009). All of this needs to be approached from an informed viewpoint and the most appropriate theories and ways of working considered. Ways of Working The challenges for the social work profession to assist mental health service users are immense, diverse and complex. When approaching work with any vulnerable service user group it is important for social workers to maintain their social work values and recommend a holistic approach to their interventions with families (GSCC codes of Practice 2002). This would mean balancing practical and emotional support, offering appropriate counselling and working in a therapeutic way to best support parents with mental health needs (Darlington et al 2005). As previously discussed parents with mental health issues may experience social exclusion or isolation and it is a challenge for social workers to support these individuals to maintain a more integrative life. They also need to be aware of the power relationship between those who provide and those who access mental health services and the disempowering consequences of being labelled a mental health service user (Williams and Keating 2000). Re search studies have shown that it is a considerable challenge for people with mental illnesses to sustain and maintain social contacts and relationships (Huxley and Thornicroft 2003). Further research into this area as to how parents with mental illnesses can be encouraged to lead a more integrative life is needed. The requirements for the social work workforce within the mental health sector are clear guidelines for working in an integrated team, with strong leadership and comprehensible policies to enable improved multi agency working. This is further challenged by maintaining and preserving the separate skill bases of each profession within a community mental health team. Community psychiatric nurses (CPN) have trained to specifically achieve a qualification, as indeed have their social work colleagues and the blurring of roles may create disquiet amongst individuals. With the new Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) role being made available to professionals from other disciplines this may create further challenges within multi-disciplinary working. Only those professionals trained to become a health professional have the ability to administer medication and a large part of their role in working with the mentally ill is to ensure medication compliance. However medication is best supported if it works in conjunction with therapies (www.rethink.org) and the most recognised therapy to assist with mentally unwell individuals is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Cognitive Behavioural Therapy was developed by Aaron Beck (1921- ) in the 1960s as a psychological approach to assist people in changing how they thought and felt (Beck 1975). This approach is widely recognised today as the foremost talking therapy when working with the mentally ill. Any professional will need to approach working with a mentally ill service user from an informed position. The experiences of the vast majority of people with mental health problems are that they are labelled. Labelling theory was first applied to the term mentally ill in 1966 when Thomas Scheffs book- Being Mentally Ill was published. Scheffs claim was that mental illness perceptions needed to be challenged as mental illness was a social construction. He purports that no one is deviant and no action is deviant unless society deemed it to be so and that symptoms of mental illness are regarded as violations of societal norms (Scheff 1966), so to challenge societys view of their perception of mental illness is one way to assist those with mental illness and the stigma they experience as a result of labelling. When considering a parent with mental illness and the approaches to working with these individuals a holistic approach would appear to be the most pertinent to consider appropriate. This means taking into account the persons physical and spiritual health as well as their mental health needs (Hunt 2009). The Care Programme Approach is now recognised as the best way to do this. The Care Programme Approach 2008 or CPA as it is referred to within services is a way of developing a plan of work individualised to each persons needs. The Care Programme Approach has four main elements as defined in Building Bridges: A guide to arrangements for inter-agency working for the care and protection of severely mentally ill people (DoH 1995 p1). It works by assessing a persons needs and then developing a plan in response to those needs; the plan is then implemented and reviewed regularly to ensure that it is continuing to meet the individuals needs (www.dh.gov.uk). The latest development in policy implementation is New Horizons; a government program of action which has been launched to improve the mental well-being of people in England and drive up the quality of mental health care. New Horizons is a comprehensive initiative that will be delivered by local government, the voluntary sector and professionals with an aim of creating a society that values mental health. This will be achieved by ensuring the foundations of good mental health begin in childhood and continue through the lifespan, emphasising the importance of prevention as well as treatment and recovery (New Horizons 2009). All professionals will be encouraged to identify children whose parents may be experiencing difficulties and signpost them to appropriate services. The next chapter will consider how policy and legislation works in supporting parents with mental ill health by considering their experiences, how their capacity is measured and how their children view both their parents illness and treatment. Chapter Two This chapter will focus on the experiences of parents with mental health problems, their ability to parent, their parenting capacity and the experiences of children of the mentally ill. The numbers of parents who experience mental health issues is not clear but it is estimated that in excess of thirty per cent of the population may be affected. Experience of Parents with Mental Health Problems When considering the research available, what is clear is that the focus has been mainly on the female experience as women were found to be the main caregivers, Nicholson et al (1998). In a study, using focus groups with mothers, to explore the problems they faced as a result of their mental illnesses Nicholson et al concluded that the experiences these mothers recounted detailed their concerns, their struggles and their successes (Nicholson et al 1998 p 638). They discussed the anxiety of stigma and the worry of having their children removed by social services as well as the everyday struggles of looking after children (Nicholson et al 1998). In a study, to explore the experiences of new mothers Mowbray et al (1995) found that motherhood was a role of great significance for many women with mental health problems. The mothers in their study articulated just how important the experience of being a mother was to them, the joy that it brought for them and the growth in personal development it produced (Mowbray et al 1995). What is known is that parenting is viewed by society as being highly valued and although this is a common thread to all societies and cultures, most perceptions are that parents with mental illness are viewed negatively, (Mowbray et al 1995). Furthermore as parents with mental health problems are de-valued by society and their parenting capacities and abilities are questioned they fear that their children will be removed from their care therefore they avoid contact with social services even if they are aware they need support. This all adds to the stress that parents experience in coping with their mental i llness and the demands of parenting. Nicholson et al (1998) found that parents felt unable to ask for the support they may need due to the fear that social services would remove their children from their care. This was a great fear for the mothers in this study but further studies have also corroborated this, for example Cleaver et al (1998) reviewed data from research and discovered that forty- two per cent of children who were initially referred to child protection services following an assessment of their parent(s) mental health became subject to care proceedings. This indicates an equal fear on behalf of the professionals involved with parents with mental ill health, the need to protect balanced against the needs of the parent to maintain normal family life. Parents have therefore identified that they will be viewed as flawed by society and perhaps incapable of fulfilling one of societys most treasured roles and have their parenting abilities and capacity questioned (Ackerson 20 03). Parenting Capacity Parents with mental illness may have difficulty in caring for their children because they feel a need to focus on their own needs or are unable to recognise their childrens needs and this can impact on their parenting capacity. Other influences can also impact such as relationship breakdown, poverty, unemployment and social exclusion. There is a real difficulty in attempting to establish just how many parents have a diagnosis of schizophrenia or psychosis although it is estimated that as many as nine million adults may have a mental health need (www.family-action.org.uk ) Many of these illnesses go undetected with some parents refusing to acknowledge that they have a problem for fear of the consequences for their children (Beardslee et al 1983). For many parents the greatest fear being the removal of their children by social services. This is largely due to much of the current service provision being aimed at protecting children considered to be at risk from harm rather than supporting mentally ill parents to overcome the disabilities that hinder their parenting role. This could be better supported by intervention before a risk to the child becomes apparent (Kearney et al 2003). This is in direct conflict with the Children Act 1989, which recommends that wherever possible parents should be supported to care for th eir own children at home. This all creates a culture of fear for parents, as they cannot be honest about what they are experiencing as this may result in the removal of their children. However what is known is that there is a significant number of parents whose children are known to social services have a mental health problem (Crossing Bridges 1998). Having a mental illness can impact on the parents ability to care for their children in a variety of ways such as; being unable to provide food, clothing, shelter and warmth or indeed be able to keep their children safe from harm (White et al 1995). However if a parent makes what is perceived to be an unwise or eccentric decision this does not necessarily mean that they are lacking in capacity (Mental Capacity Act 2005). All parents are expected to provide; a safe physical and a secure emotional environment for their children, they are expected to demonstrate appropriate behaviour and provide opportunitie