Parental Substance Abuse And Safeguarding Children Social Work Essay Essay Example

Parental Substance Abuse And Safeguarding Children Social Work Essay Essay Substance abuse causes considerable injury and is soon an huge planetary issue of public concern. It is a wide-ranging job, damaging persons, households and full communities. In general, substance abuse is non merely turning well within the United Kingdom, but besides worldwide. Simultaneously, the figure of kids involved in the barbarous circle of drug pickings and job imbibing by their parents is besides increasing. Although authoritiess, policy shapers and practicians are acknowledging the job and taking stairss towards undertaking the effects of substance maltreatment within households ; the issue in general seems far from being solved. Alcohol is lawfully available and easy accessible throughout England. It is positively associated with socialization, loosen uping and observing. Although jobs linked to inordinate intoxicant ingestion are widespread and good established, it seems that intoxicant abuse is someway more socially accepted and does non hold the same stigma as utilizing drugs. Consequently, the issue of intoxicant maltreatment, particularly in households with kids, frequently remains undiscovered, and the negative impact and effects of the inordinate imbibing behavior of parents on kids remain under-recognized and ignored. Estimates by the Prime Minister s Strategy Unit ( 2004 ) are that between 780,000 and 1,3 million kids in England are ( in ) straight affected by an intoxicant job of at least one parent in other words: 1 in 11 kids live in a family where intoxicant abuse is present. We will write a custom essay sample on Parental Substance Abuse And Safeguarding Children Social Work Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Parental Substance Abuse And Safeguarding Children Social Work Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Parental Substance Abuse And Safeguarding Children Social Work Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer While intoxicant and the negative effects associated with its uncontrolled usage have been around and good documented for centuries, the drug industry has merely been developing and turning quickly over the last few old ages. Concordant with the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs ( 2003 ) up to 300,000 kids or 3 % of all kids under 16 presently belong to a household where one or two of their parents struggle with a unsafe drug issue. Parental substance abuse is besides non unheard of in societal services caseloads with one one-fourth to one tierce of households known to societal services as being involved with misapplying drugs or intoxicant ( Cleaver et al. , 1999 ; Kearney et al. , 2003 ) . Many of these kids do at least temporarily non unrecorded with their addicted parents. Puting these figures together, more than 10 % of all kids in England are exposed to endure under the effects of their parental drug or intoxicant abuse and it is highly likely that these Numberss will go on to turn over the undermentioned old ages. It seems besides sensible to believe that the official figures of affected kids may be under-estimating the true graduated table of the job as it is highly hard to cipher how many households have to get by with some signifier or the other of substance maltreatment ( Templeton, 2006 ) . First, non all drug and intoxicant services take proper attention to set up whether or non their clients are besides parents and 2nd, non all clients are willing to supply information about the being of ain kids. Third, some establishments do non unwrap figures, collect informations decently or be given to under-report ; and 4th, cipher knows how many substance misuser are non seeking intervention and, hence do non look on any official statistics ( Keen et a l. , 2001 ; ACMD, 2003 ) . Consequently, losing informations and a clear underestimation of the entire figure of affected kids by parental substance abuse seem obvious. Substance maltreatment can include negative physical ( such as wellness hazards and disregard ) , psychological ( such as fond regard upsets and depression ) every bit good as societal ( such as poorness and offense ) influences on both parents and their kids ( Kroll et al. , 2000 ) . Parental intoxicant and drug maltreatment can impact kids s wellness and development in the long term from every bit early as construct and frequently into maturity, taking to changing signifiers of strong, inauspicious and complex effects ( Turning Point, 2006 ) . Additionally, all imaginable types of kid ill-treatment have repeatedly been associated and clarified in assorted surveies with parental substance abuse including carelessness ( as the most common type of maltreatment ) , sexual, emotional and physical maltreatment ( Cleaver et al. , 1999 ; Alison, 2000 ; Forrester et al. , 2006 ) . The impact of intoxicant and/or drugs may besides significantly affect the parent s capacity of equal parentin g ( Alison, 2000 ) . The negative impact of a dependence on the substance misuser himself can take to helter-skelter life styles, perplexing and forestalling parents to back up and care for their ain kids, run intoing their basic demands and supplying a safe and encouraging place environment ( Keen et al. , 2001 ; Home Office, 2008 ) . With the cognition that parental abuse of certain substances can hold a earnestly negative impact on kids s physical, psychological and emotional wellness and development, it is indispensable that these kids potentially at hazard are identified every bit early as possible in order to set up for appropriate protection and safeguard their public assistance ( Nottingham City, 2004 ) . This is the duty of all professionals in different scopes of services ; they all must be able to place and handle substance abuse related jobs by grownups, and besides concentrate on the jobs of affected kids ( Keen and Alison, 2001 ) . Therefore, progressively more research is being done, policy enterprises started and family-supporting services and undertakings have developed quickly ( Templeton et al. , 2006 ) . Although considerable advancement has been made in acknowledging and undertaking the job of substance maltreatment and the issue has won much public consciousness in the last old ages, unhappily , the decease of kids through the custodies of their parents recalls that the system still fails to safeguard kids at hazard. Professionals face a assortment of frequently complex issues and battle with working unimpeded. The most common jobs are a deficiency of apprehension, deriving entree to the substance misuser and their kids, resiliency, quandary about confidentiality and information sharing, inter-agency tensenesss, appraisal, deficiency of preparation and the ability to concentrate on both, grownups and kids s demands ( Kroll and Taylor, 2000 ; Taylor and Kroll, 2004 ) . Without a uncertainty, alterations and new attacks are needed, and through joint appraisal, better information sharing and inter-agency cooperation, the focal point should be on effectual intercession and intervention for the substance misuser every bit good as of the so far frequently unseeable and neglected kids ( Kroll and Talyor, 2000 ; Head of Safeguarding Children, 2008 ) . The first subdivision of this essay describes effects and causes associated with parental substance maltreatment. It highlights the impact of drug and intoxicant abuse on the fetus during gestation and subsequently on the kid from newborn to adulthood, every bit good as resiliency and protective factors for affected kids. Part two focal points on professionals: their duties sing kids s safeguarding and the challenges they face when confronted with substance abuse. The 3rd subdivision covers the legal model of safeguarding kids and other related political steps. The 4th subdivision examines the advancement made so far by looking at different undertakings, intercessions implemented and recent developments. In contrast, subdivision five gives an penetration into world, indicating out some of the most obvious jobs and recent incidents. It touches exhaustively discussed issues such as information sharing, inter-agency cooperation and preparation. The last subdivision considers purposes an d ends, their execution and suggests recommendations for a more effectual scheme in the hereafter. Throughout this article substance misuse/abuse refers to the usage either dependent usage or associated with inauspicious effects of prescribed ( such as tranquillizers, kiping pills, pain-killers, sedatives ) and illicit ( such as opioids, cocaine, rapture, hemp ) drugs every bit good as intoxicant ( Newcastle Child Protection, 2002 ) with critical societal, interpersonal, fiscal, physical and psychological negative effects for both the users and those around them ( ACMD, 2003 ) . 78 SUBSTANCE MISUSE AND EFFECTS ON PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN There is sensible footing in research to propose that a kid whose parent is misapplying substances is at increased hazard. Substance abuse can demand a important proportion of a parent s clip, money and energy, which will inescapably cut down resources available to the kid. Substance abuse may besides set the kid at an increased hazard of disregard and emotional, physical or sexual maltreatment, either by the parent or because the kid becomes more vulnerable to mistreat by others ( Lewis, 1997 ) Parental substance maltreatment does non needfully intend that kids are at hazard of injury or in demand or have hapless rearing in some instances they would non even be affected in a negative manner ( Newcastle Child Protection, 2002 ) . However, merely a few kids will non hold to cover with multiple, mounting and changing negative effects and survive such a complex issue wholly unharmed. While a concrete form of effects can neer be clearly determined due to the complexness of the issue, many of the kids may be for good affected in an inauspicious mode, either emotionally, physically, socially, intellectually or developmentally ( ACPC, 2004 ) . Problems include a assortment of wellness and developmental issues, uneffective parenting, condemnable activity, poorness, helter-skelter life styles and educational attainment, and have long been underestimated and an abandoned research field ( Keen and Alison, 2001 ; HM Government, 2008 ) . The Children Act ( 1989, s17 ( 10 ) ) defines a kid in demand as improbable to accomplish or keep, or to hold the chance of accomplishing or keeping, a sensible criterion of wellness or development without the proviso for him of services by a local authorization ; his wellness or development is likely to be significantly impaired, or farther impaired, without the proviso for him of such services ; or he is handicapped . In this context injury means ill-treatment ( sexual maltreatment and signifiers of maltreatment which are non physical ) or damage of wellness ( physical or mental wellness ) or development ( physical, rational, emotional, societal or behavioral development ) ( The Children Act 1989, s31 ( 9 ) ) . Among 100s of other prescribable substances, intoxicant and opiates should be reduced or avoided at all during gestation. Although it is non possible to measure all the effects of drugs and intoxicant to a full extend on a foetus, it is known that it can be damaging at any clip during gestation ( from construct onwards up to deliver, with the first 3 months being peculiarly vulnerable ) , doing a assortment of wellness and development jobs. Babies whose female parents were dependent on opiates or intoxicant during their gestation are more likely to be smaller, of lower birth weight, premature and at higher hazard of the sudden baby decease ( ACMD, 2003 ) . Additionally the addicted female parents affected wellness and her perchance hapless nutrition ( high degrees of sugar, non adequate Ca, proteins, fruits and veggies ) frequently have an extra negative impact on the foetus physical and psychical development and the babe s wellness. If an unborn is exposed to maternal intoxicant maltreatment, this can non merely take to the familiar serious damages related to substance maltreatment mentioned before, but besides to a unusually common developmental job known as Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. Foetal Alcohol Syndrome includes a series of possible effects on kids such as larning disablements, bosom defects, lower organic structure weight, decreased tallness, facial malformations, vision and hearing troubles, ADD ( Attention Deficit Disorder ) , ADHD ( Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ) , behavior upset and inappropriate behavior ( Dore et al. , 1995 ) . Expecting adult females sharing injection equipment or working as cocottes to finance their drug usage, live with the changeless menace of being infected with HIV or hepatitis B ; for kids born to drug dependent female parents who are infected with HIV, hepatitis C or hepatitis B, there is besides a unusually elevated hazard to be besides infected during gestation, birth or while being breastfed ( ACMD, 2003 ) . Heavy and prolonged maternal substance maltreatment, both opiates and intoxicant, will really probably expose the kid to the Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, which is a term for a scope of jobs a newborn may meet when retreating from exposure to narcotics. Typical symptoms include high-pitched and overly long periods of weeping, shuddering, sneezing, sudating and temperature, purging and diarrhoea, feeding troubles, disturbed kiping forms, paroxysms, , crossness and hyperactivity, high sensitiveness to touch, wild suction, rapid external respiration and cardiac action ( Marcory and Harbin, 2000 ) . Despite the opportunity that appropriate prenatal attention from the beginning would increase the possibility of a healthy and normal gestation and satisfactory development of the foetus, female parents involved with substance dependance frequently do non seek antenatal attention, peculiarly due to their fright of being stigmatized. ( Newcastle Child Protection, 2002 ) . As a babe grows older, the likeliness of sing some negative effects due to its parents substance maltreatment is non diminished in any manner and the impact will change well, depending on several factors such as the kid s age and phase of development. The constitution of a decent, confident and unafraid relationship to at least one health professional in the early months has widely been recognized as the foundation of a kid s normal development. However, kids of substance misapplying parents frequently experience parental inaccessibility, inconsistent attention and conflictual relationships ( ACMD, 2003 ) . A wont frequently lets a parent focal point more on geting and utilizing his drugs or intoxicant instead than its kids s demands. Poisoning and get bying with backdowns symptoms lead to limited clip, attending and emotional inaccessibility ( Kroll and Taylor, 2000 ) . Further, kids of drug and intoxicant maltreaters frequently have to see an implemented impermanent or lasting separation or loss of a parent due to abandonment, hospitalization, imprisonment, intervention, remotion or other exigencies ( ACMD, 2003 ) . All these points contribute to life-long complicated and insecure fond regard. The above-specified jobs normally besides affect the nature and quality of parenting, which in bend frequently of course consequences in farther troubles in a kid s development ( ACMD, 2003 ) . Research proves that many substance mistreating parents lack model theoretical accounts for rearing as they have received hapless parenting and ill-treatment themselves ( Keen and Alison, 2001 ) . As dependance on a substance becomes cardinal, parents are more likely to pretermit their kids which bears assorted hazards and dangers them, irrespective of their age group. Children may be inadequately supervised or left entirely at place, exposed to preventable accidents and/or hurts ( Kroll and Taylor, 2000 ) . But non merely kids are at hazard of accidents, besides drugged or bibulous grownups are exposed to a higher degree of self-induced incidents such as falls, burying nutrient on the goblin or falling asleep with still glowing coffin nails. Parents with an dependence repeatedly besides tend to be unable to carry through their kids s ain basic demands so day-to-day hygiene, a balanced diet and general wellness may endure every bit good as stableness, modus operandis ( such as bedtimes, acquiring up and out for school ) and boundaries ( Alison, 2000 ) . Further wellness hazards may be provoked non taking kids s everyday wellness assignments or jobs earnestly plenty or careless disposal and hence easy entree to drugs, bottles, panpipes and acerate leafs ( Kroll and Taylor, 2000 ; Alison, 2000 ) . There is besides noteworthy danger for kids that have observed their parents utilizing substances, copying them ( ACMD, 2003 ) . Girl, 2, dies imbibing her female parent s dolophine hydrochloride ( 2002 ) Boy, 2, died after taking parents dolophine hydrochloride ( 2006 ) Boy, 14, dies after imbibing dolophine hydrochloride at his aunt s level ( 2008 ) Another effect of parental inaccessibility is that kids are frequently left entirely with day-to-day adult/parental duties such as caring for their younger siblings, run intoing their parents demands, managing fundss and family jobs ( Kroll, 2004 ) . Such extra and unequal duties may in bend consequence in the loss of societal chances and hapless academic public presentation of child- some research gives grounds that kids miss school ( on a regular basis ) by being kept at place due to caring duties and left with small clip to socialise. Social isolation becomes more terrible as the kid grows older and starts to be careful about exposing household life to foreigners and lives in a circle of denial and secrecy due to dishonor and fear ( ACMD, 2003 ) . Misapplying drugs or intoxicant does non merely lend to negligence but frequently goes manus and manus with other signifiers of kid maltreatment and force at place. The possibility of maltreatment and child ill-treatment is enforced by the likeliness that kids may be exposed to a figure of possible unsafe aliens or inappropriate carers within their ain place ( Newcastle Child Protection, 2002 ) . Research besides reveals a lower tolerance degree and moderate loss of pique associated with substance maltreatment, doing aggressive behavior and ensuing in force to look often ( Kroll, 2004 ) . Emotional disregard and maltreatment is besides an issue within a parental substance misapplying environment. Children frequently either experience rejected and unloved by their parents as they concentrate and spend well more clip on their destructive wont than with them, or embarrassed and frequently besides guilty ( Kroll, 2004 ) . Keeping an dependence is a fiscal load, non merely doing it hard to finish family costs, but besides on a regular basis taking to condemnable activity to purchase drugs or intoxicant. Children of addicted parents are besides more likely to be exposed to early condemnable behavior and/or its effects non infrequently because they have been with a parent while they had been perpetrating a offense ( ACMD, 2003 ) . Although parents try and tend to conceal their wont from their kids, kids sooner or subsequently detect it and typically have to cover with it by themselves which normally adds to a assortment of already existing behavioural jobs due to the mentioned effects of parental substance abuse kids tend to be more aggressive, experience disquieted or dying and demo anti-social behavior ( ACMD, 2003 ) . Negative parental illustrations and function theoretical accounts such as drug pickings, intoxicant maltreatment, offense, hapless life conditions and inappropriate behavior necessarily can take a kid to see their parents actions as being normal and approved so that substance maltreatment and hideous behavior by themselves becomes more likely as they enter into their teens and maturity ( ACMD, 2003 ) . Research into kid resiliency has shown that cardinal protective factors can hold an tremendous impact on forestalling kids from being damaged by parental substance abuse. The field of factors includes holding a parent non misapplying substances, a strong bond with a lovingness grownup and support from extended household ( Templeton and Velleman, 2007 ) . Further to advert are a violence-free place, sufficient fiscal resources and an solid support system every bit good as educational success and engagement in different activities ( 19? ) . Working towards personal ends and dreams, taking instruction or calling chances or even go forthing the parental place are besides common schemes to cover with sing substance maltreatment at place ( Templeton and Velleman, 2007 ) . Parents by and large are cognizant of the negative effects and influence on their kids, and they frequently experience a scope of impacts as a consequence of their failing which furthermore will hold follow-on affects for their kids, for illustration in their parenting capacity. Many of them have experienced hard childhoods and were ill parented themselves in this instances drugs or intoxicant are frequently used to cover with a scope of injury and tenseness associated ( Alison, 2000 ) . Professionals It is the dependability and map of all genres of professionals and bureaus including general practicians, wellness visitants, physicians, accoucheuse, baby doctors, mental wellness services, household support services, intervention establishments, societal services, constabularies, educational scenes and voluntary sectors to safeguard and protect kids. Safeguarding is equal to maintain kids safe from injury and maltreatment both calculated maltreatment every bit good as accidents, strong-arming and offense and to advance their well-being and development in a healthy and safe environment ( HM Government, 2006 ) . Everyone holding contact with kids must be cognizant that it is non acceptable to stay sidelined if a kid is in demand or hazard of injury ( Lord Laming, 2003 ) . However, it is notable that each professional recognizes and accepts the restrictions of his ain functions and values the indispensable portion of others ( Keen and Alison, 2001 ) otherwise everyone s responsib ility and the mission to set a kid s public assistance foremost shortly gets lost and remains no 1 s duty ( Inter-Agency Guidelines, ( 2008 ) . Challenges When meeting parental substance maltreatment, all professionals face a series of quandary, struggles and tensenesss in their work with kids and grownups. They frequently merely experience unprepared and miss the expertness, accomplishments and developing to concentrate and work efficaciously with grownups and kids to the same intent, and even if they do hold the proper preparation, professionals frequently merely do non see their function in prosecuting with kids or substance misusing parents ( Templeton and Velleman, 2007 ) . Professionals interviewed by Taylor and Kroll ( 2004 ) stated one after another that they lack developing which covers kid safeguarding and protection procedures and experience inexperient to work with kids of drug and intoxicant users, kids in demand or hazard of injury. Additionally, there seems to be a common confusion among different bureaus sing their single functions and therefore allotment of clear duties. A big portion of these issues lay in the person and independent development of substance abuse services and kid public assistance approaches over the last old ages. While grownup intervention services place the substance maltreaters foremost and frequently do non affect bing kids, the primary intent of kid protection bureaus are entirely the kids, by and large non taking into history parents demands ( Colby and Murrell, 1998 in Taylor and Kroll, 2004 ) . But bureaus working with kids must besides take into history the state of affairs and the jobs of the several parents, being cognizant of the impact parents behaviors have on kids. At the same clip, services for grownups must non disregard bing kids, so a great cooperation between bureaus and services is needed ( Templeton and Velleman, 2007 ) . Professionals and bureaus have to cover with parents who may bot be easy to prosecute with, who may non desire to collaborate with them, are loath to open up, state the truth or fix to alter ( Nottingham City ACPC, 2004 ) . Therefore it can be a challenge to obtain, set up and keep swearing relationships with either the parents or the accomplished kids ( Inter-Agency Guidelines, 2008 ) . On the other manus, households with a drug and/or intoxicant job fear a scope of effects and rejection by opening themselves to professionals, which normally keeps them in a turn of silence and secretiveness, therefore forestalling them entree to back up and assist for themselves or their kids ( Nottingham City ACPC, 2004 ) . Parents are frequently loath to near services and seek intervention, have jobs to confide in others and uncover their drug and/or intoxicant job as they peculiarly fear that any revelation could take to losing their kids and that their household might be treated otherwise, stigmatized or denied by others ( Nottingham City ACPC, 2004 ) . Although confidentiality is a cardinal rule for such bureaus, no organisation can vouch it and in some instances, professionals have to portion information, particularly when a kid s public assistance is at hazard ( The Stella Project, 2002 ) . SAFEGUARDING AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK As mentioned earlier in this article, bureaus, services and professionals in touch with kids or/and grownups who are parents have a assortment of duties to safeguard kids, assess their demands and advance their public assistance. In the United Kingdom, considerable legislative model exists for this intent, with the Children Act 1989 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as the simple and reforming pieces of kid jurisprudence. In general, the Children Act ( 1989 ) focuses on bettering kids s lives and demands comprehensive services to all kids every bit good as tailored 1s for those with extra demands. It besides clarifies that if a local authorization has sensible cause to surmise that a kid who lives, or is found, in their country is enduring, or is likely to endure, important injury, the authorization shall do, or do to be made, such questions as they consider necessary to enable them to make up ones mind whether they should take any action to safeguard or a dvance that kid s public assistance ( The Children Act 1989, s47 ( 1 ) ) . The Children Act besides provides the legal evidences for the five Every Child Matters ( 2003 ) outcomes in jurisprudence be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, do a positive part, achieve economic wellbeing. Subsequently the Children Act ( 2004 ) implemented a demand for local governments and a scope of bureaus prosecuting with substance mistreating parents to rank foremost the public assistance and safety of their kids. Local governments and bureaus are made responsible to find if a kid is in demand and/or hazard and so to take appropriate stairss to protect him from ( farther ) important injury ( ACMD, 2003 ) . Further The Children Act ( 2004 ) focuses on co-operation to better and procure the wellbeing of kids. Early consciousness and intercession is critical to cut down the Numberss of kid protection instances but appraisal is an vastly complex procedure. When measuring the public assistance of a kid, practicians must work sensitively and child-centred, analyzing the parental substance abuse from the kid s place to better understand the impact upon his development and life ( Lord Laming, 2003 ) . For a more standardised, coordinated, early and practical manner to measure kids s single demands, the Common Assessment Framework ( CAF ) was designed and signifiers portion of the Every Child Matters ( Lord Lamming, 2003 ) . The Department of Health besides provides the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families, which is based on a more ecological attack. Further, all local governments are required to hold an Area Child Protection Committee to form and oversee kid protection steps. When finding that a kid is at hazard of important injury, kid protection processs should instantly be initiated to guarantee that the necessary referral is made to the societal services ( ACMD, 2003 ) . It is important that appraisal is ongoing and alterations are carefully monitored when a parent is in intervention or free from drugs or intoxicant dependance it does non needfully intend that kids do non longer suffer from any inauspicious effects ( Nottingham City ACPC, 2004 ) . Further, if no concerns sing the wellbeing of a kid are established, professionals should stay in connexion with the household and carefully detect them as harmless state of affairss frequently rapidly alter into an unpredictable environment for the kid ( Newcastle Child Protection, 2002 ) . Advancement Over the last old ages, there has been a broad scope of Government enterprises, programmes, schemes and policies aimed at undertaking ( parental ) substance abuse. The Updated Drug Strategy for England 2002, Models of Care for Alcohol Misusers, the Green Paper on Children at Risk, Extended Schools, the Children s National Service Framework, Sure Start and Early Excellence Centres, mentioned above, are merely some illustrations of cardinal enterprises ( ACMD, 2003 ; The Stella Project, 2002 ) : The Updated Drug Strategy for England in general specifies a assortment of actions undertaken by the Government to undertake drug usage and curtail the entree to Classify A ( diacetylmorphine, cocaine ) drugs. Further it acknowledges that there is non adequate attending given to kids of drug dependant grownups and therefore more focal point on assisting them every bit good as addicted female parents is needed. The Models of Care for Alcohol Misusers first attempt is to place, work towards and minimise negative effects of intoxicant maltreatment on kids. In peculiar, this scheme besides addresses maltreatment and domestic force as the chief associated jobs with alcohol dependance. The Green Paper on Children at Risk is a scheme turn toing a series of cardinal recommendations of the Laming Report and taking to implement policies to better the life opportunities of kids. The construct behind the Extended Schools undertaking, initiated by the Department for Education and Skills, is that schools could make stronger relationships parents and kids, motivate their students and so raise criterions by offering a wider service such as grownup instruction, wellness services and child care. The Children s National Service Framework chief end is to cut down inequalities in wellness and societal services every bit good as upgrading the overall criterion of such services. The strategy specifically concentrates on the demands of kids of drug and intoxicant maltreaters. Certain Start provides different services and support of all sort to all households in more deprived countries and in instances of parental substance abuse, the Sure Start squad will seek advice, refer to and work closely with the relevant practicians and bureaus. Early Excellence Centres were established to raise kids s public assistance and development by working coordinated with other community bureaus and offering advice, support, child care, wellness services and early acquisition. With a comprehensive legislative model already established in the United Kingdom and several enterprises and programmes running, it does non look particularly needed to modify bing statute laws or implement new 1s or get down more undertakings to protect kids efficaciously. Nevertheless, those already bing must be to the full understood and applied by practicians in all countries, and everyone must clearly understand his duties and those of the others ( Lord Lamming, 2003 ) . However, the decease of the kids Baby P and Victoria Climbie are tragic illustrations of the weaknesss in the kid protection system. Despite considerable committedness and advancement made so far, challenges remain in the protection of kids and their safeguarding every bit good as in the day-to-day world of practicians. The issues chiefly surround preparation, equal degrees of staffing, betterment of informations systems and information sharing and better coordination and cooperation problematically ( Lord Lamming, 2003 ) . World The exact figure of bush leagues enduring under parental substance maltreatment known to societal services is non clearly determined. In 1999, Cleaver et Al. estimated that about 25 to 60 per centum of all kids in kid protection proceedings were populating with a parent holding a drug or intoxicant job. A more recent survey of 290 kid detention instances in four different London boroughs revealed that 34 % ( 100 households ) where affected by substance maltreatment, ensuing in more than 50 % of all kids in attention proceedings and over a 3rd of all kids on the kid protection files being topics of parental substance maltreatment ( Forrester and Harwin, 2006 ) . Both research workers besides found that most affected kids were under the age of five old ages. Information sharing Although the authorities set clear guidelines on sharing information with the publication of Information sharing: Guidance for practicians and directors in 2008, transgressing confidentiality, information sharing and information protection still remain some of the first concerns among professionals working with kids and substance maltreaters ( Lord Lamming, 2009 ) . While the Data Protection Act 1998 preserves unauthorised revelation of personal information, it should non function as an obstruction or alibi to indispensable information exchange between bureaus and professionals ( Scots Executive, 2003 ) . There are some exclusions set out in the Data Protection Act ( 1998 ) in which information can be shared legitimately, most significantly if there is sensible concern of a kid being at hazard of injury. In order to better the safeguarding of kids of drug and intoxicant mistreating parents it is of import to guarantee that everyone involved understands the state of affairss in whic h they can and should go through on information to other bureaus and organisations and that they use the new governmental recommendations for information sharing in order to supply better support to kids, or to forestall or halt injury ( Cleaver et al. , 2008 ) . Training Appropriate preparation is necessary across all bureaus and for every professional ( such as a societal worker, wellness visitant, school teacher, GP ) working with kids. To advance effectual intercession, it is important that they all clearly understand kid development and are able to early diagnose and place the marks of kid maltreatment and disregard and therefore do the necessary agreements to protect the kid from go oning injury and continue his wellbeing. Lord Lamming ( 2009 ) besides suggests multi-agency preparation to back up a assortment of professionals to better understand non merely their ain functions and responsibilities but besides those of other practicians. This may increase joint appraisal and better determinations. Inter-agency working Lord Lamming ( 2003 in the Victoria Climbie Report ) already ascertained The support and protection of kids can non be achieved by a individual bureau. Every service has to play its portion. All employees must hold placed upon them the clear outlook that the primary map is to the kid . It is indispensable that practicians and services collaborate in a co-ordinated manner to supply better support at the right clip, transporting out joint appraisal or organisation. As many grownup services lack the accomplishments to cover the demands of their clients kids, they have to seek advice from and work closely with other, more child-focused services otherwise their energy and development with the parents is useless ( Turning Point, 2006 ) . The same applies to child-centered establishments who disregard parents. It is assumed that inter-agency working among professionals would convey needful services more co-ordinated and timely, and the results would hence likely to be more effectual ( Cleaver et al. , 2008 ) . Working together to Safeguard Children ( 2006 ) focuses on and represents different rules for collaborative working ; acknowledging that a kid can merely be protected efficaciously if professionals work together and coordinated.. Decision In the United Kingdom, the debatable drug and intoxicant usage is a major societal and public wellness concern and many kids and their households struggle undetected. In the recent old ages, an huge attempt has been undertaken around the issue of parental substance abuse. The impact of and hazards associated with it have been extensively analyzed and there is turning grounds for a series of undertakings, services and intercessions for kids and their parents. As clearly stated in this article, dependence to different substances has the possible and ability to interfere with all facets of a kid s normal development and general wellness, taking to considerable life-long inauspicious effects for them and their households. Further, heavy uncontrolled imbibing and debatable drug usage frequently have an alarming negative impact on rearing accomplishments and parental attention of their kids ensuing in fond regard upsets and a assortment of other jobs. The study highlights the higher hazard to kids of all signifiers of maltreatment where a parent is problematically utilizing substances. Substance abuse by grownups who are besides parents seldom occurs in isolation or is entirely responsible for increasing hazard for kids. Environmental factors such as unemployment, poorness and societal isolation addition both the hazard of parental substance abuse and negative impacts on kids. Particular hazards associated with gestation and parents with substance jobs who frequently had histories themselves of kid maltreatment and disregard have been emphasized. The coexistence of parental substance abuse brings more challenges for professionals who work with kids and households. With respects to professionals and bureaus, it was recognized that services working with substance misusers frequently have no tradition of working with kids, and other services concentrating on kids are non equipped to react to substance abuse. As divided services form unsafe spreads into which kids can fall and stay concealed within the expert web, there is an obvious demand to better the cooperation between bureaus and services working with parents and kids. The writer besides emphasizes the visual aspect of anxiousnesss and insecurities in child-centered professionals and grownup focused practicians about their ain degrees of cognition and the degree of expertness they felt equipped to measure such a complex issue as parental substance abuse. Therefore, preparation and counsel on the consequence of drugs and intoxicant abuse on kids seems appropriate to mobilise professionals assurance in their ability to measure kids at hazard of injury and offer effectual intervention. Training is besides needed for those instances where parents deny jobs and/or resist intervention, fearing a combination of revelation, stigmatisation and hasty action, which could take to serious jobs sing engagement and enquiry. Further, there shall be a focal point on how to collaborate with other professionals, inter-agency communicating and information sharing. This is utile to interrupt down inter-professional barriers, so bureaus can more efficaciously program and present shared services every bit good as evaluate and procedure attention programs with households. It is besides wise to retrieve Lord Lamming s kid protection counsel although parental substance usage per Se was non addressed by him. It is clear that diverse and flexible attacks of working with households affected by substance maltreatment are needed, delivered by bureaus and professional who are non merely exhaustively trained but besides able to place the demands of those they work with. While there is considerable capacity for betterment in information sharing, patient appraisal, staff preparation, service proviso and interagency working, the biggest challenge seems to be that households with a substance maltreatment job are non overlooked.

IPLU1 Personal Reflective Report The WritePass Journal

IPLU1 Personal Reflective Report Introduction IPLU1 Personal Reflective Report IntroductionRole and functions of a teamIndividual role and my contribution to the teamConclusionReferencesRelated Introduction Interprofessional learning (IPL) is designed to promote teamwork between members of different disciplines. In order to provide the best care for patients, individuals from different areas of healthcare (e.g. a physiotherapist and a social worker) will collaborate during treatment (Parsell Bligh, 1998). The two main objectives are to promote an understanding of the roles of other healthcare professionals and to develop teamworking skills. In a time when the roles of healthcare workers are less defined, ILP can be an important way to efficiently care for patients (Parsell Bligh, 1998). The aims of this assignment will be to look at teamwork (in theory and first-hand) and to evaluate my strengths/weaknesses within the group. A team activity was devised involving a Top Trumps-style card game where healthcare statistics of cities across the UK were used to display the inequality of health/social care provisions across the UK. A role playing presentation was used to show how professional collaboration could be used in treating patients. Role and functions of a team We set about the three stages of building the team, catering to individual needs and achieving the task (Adair, 1986). Whilst building the team, we considered factors such as roles within the group, motivation, and the most effective way to communicate. Four stages of building a team from individuals have been identified (Tuckman, 1965): 1) Forming (enthusiasm, ambition and anxiety concerning our roles within the group. 2) Storming (conflicts can arise). 3) Norming (resolution of conflicts and a clearer vision). 4) Performing (clarity of roles within the team). Examples of each of these stages were seen during the first week; however I feel that we quickly began to work as a team. We progressed by using ‘ice-breaking’ sessions to get to know each other (including electronic WIKI sessions on Skype), by discussing our knowledge of IPL and setting ground rules for the team. Discussing the individual needs within the team we considered particular strengths of individuals, wh ich allowed us to assign individual tasks. I represented my own area of study and took on the role of an occupational therapist. Whilst discussing how to achieve the tasks we ensured that they were clearly defined and allocated sub-tasks accordingly. We ensured that tasks could be done to the appropriate standard within the timeframe and checked progress of tasks against the plan, making adjustments along the way if necessary. Individual role and my contribution to the team We identified three roles were necessary in the team: leader, thinker and achiever. The leader should ensure motivation and clarity on the tasks, the thinker should collect and analyse information about the task and the achiever might ensure that work is done to an acceptable standard. I was chosen as the thinker within the group. My role was to decide the game for the first activity and to research the necessary data for this game. I decided to use a version of the card game Top Trumps, where statistics such as life expectancy and infant deaths from cities across the UK were played against each other. In this way inequalities in healthcare between cities could be quickly discovered. In particular we highlighted the differences in healthcare provisions between rural and urban areas, using Newcastle and Portsmouth as examples. During week 2, we demonstrated how IPL can be used for the benefit of a patient with a role playing activity. Here we planned treatment for a patient who had su ffered injuries during a suspected suicide attempt. Members of the team from different healthcare disciplines met to discuss the best course of treatment. As an Occupational Therapist I proposed treatments such as range of motion exercises and injury support. Medical treatment was also offered by team members from other healthcare disciplines whilst others were able to offer social care advice regarding the suicide attempt. A Peer Assessment was then carried out on each team member. My time management was described as reliable and punctual, although perhaps I could develop my skills at prioritising tasks. Within the group I was found to accept my fair share of the work and provide constructive criticism where necessary. My communication skills were also praised; however perhaps I listened too often when I could have been leading a discussion. Conclusion IPL is an effective way of encouraging teamwork with people from other disciplines and in a healthcare capacity can be of great benefit. During this exercise we learned how to build a team, identify individual needs, and use teamwork as the foundation to achieve a task. Using knowledge of (In)equality in healthcare we completed a game activity that demonstrated this theory in practice, whilst the role playing presentation displayed fundamentals of the IPL process. In doing so we saw the effectiveness that interprofessional learning and work can have for the treatment of patients in an increasingly complicated healthcare system. References Parsell, G., Bligh, J. (1998) ‘Interprofessional Learning’, Postgraduate medical journal, 74, pp89-95 Adair, John (1986) Effective Team Building, Aldershot, Gower. Tuckman, B.W. (1965) Developmental sequence in small groups, Psychological Bulletin, 63 pp.384-99

Clovis - Early Hunting Colonizers of North America

Clovis - Early Hunting Colonizers of North America Clovis is what archaeologists call the oldest widespread archaeological complex in North America. Named after the town in New Mexico near where the first accepted Clovis site Blackwater Draw Locality 1 was discovered, Clovis is most well-known for its stunningly beautiful stone projectile points, found all over the United States, northern Mexico, and southern Canada. Clovis technology was not likely the first in the American continents: that was the culture called Pre-Clovis, who arrived before Clovis culture at least one thousand years earlier  and are likely ancestral to Clovis. While Clovis sites are found throughout North America, the technology only lasted for a brief period of time. The dates of Clovis vary from region to region. In the American west, Clovis sites range in age from 13,400-12,800 calendar years ago BP [cal BP], and in the east, from 12,800-12,500 cal BP. The earliest Clovis points found so far are from the Gault site in Texas, 13,400 cal BP: meaning Clovis-style hunting lasted a period of time no longer than 900 years. There are several long-standing debates in Clovis archaeology, about the purpose and meaning of the egregiously gorgeous stone tools; about whether they were solely big game hunters; and about what made Clovis people abandon the strategy. Clovis Points and Fluting Clovis points are lanceolate (leaf-shaped) in overall shape, with parallel to slightly convex sides and concave bases. The edges of the hafting end of the point are usually ground dull, likely to prevent the cord haft lashings from being cut. They vary quite a bit in size and form: eastern points have wider blades and tips and deeper basal concavities than do points from the west. But their most distinguishing characteristic is fluting. On one or both faces, the flintknapper finished the point by removing a single flake or flute creating a shallow divot extending up from the base of the point typically about 1/3 of the length towards the tip. The fluting makes an undeniably beautiful point, especially when performed on a smooth and shiny surface, but it is also a remarkably costly finishing step. Experimental archaeology has found that it takes an experienced flintknapper half an hour or better to make a Clovis point, and between 10-20% of them are broken when the flute is attempted. Archaeologists have contemplated the reasons Clovis hunters might have had for creating such beauties since their first discovery. In the 1920s, scholars first suggested that the long channels enhanced bloodlettingbut since the flutes are largely covered by the hafting element thats not likely. Other ideas have also come and gone: recent experiments by Thomas and colleagues (2017) suggest that the thinned base might have been a shock absorber, absorbing physical stress and preventing catastrophic failures while being used. Exotic Materials Clovis points are also typically made from high-quality materials, specifically highly siliceous crypto-crystalline cherts, obsidians, and chalcedonies or quartzes and quartzites. The distance from where they have been found discarded to where the raw material for the points came is sometimes hundreds of kilometers away. There are other stone tools on Clovis sites but they are less likely to have been made of the exotic material. Having been carried or traded across such long distances and being a part of a costly manufacturing process leads scholars to believe that there was almost certainly some symbolic meaning to the use of such these points. Whether it was a social, political or religious meaning, some sort of hunting magic, we will never know. What Were They Used For? What modern archaeologists can do is look for indications of how such points were used. There is no doubt that some of these points were for hunting: the point tips often exhibit impact scars, which likely resulted from thrusting or throwing against a hard surface (animal bone). But, microwear analysis has also shown that some were used multifunctionally, as butchery knives. Archaeologist W. Carl Hutchings (2015) conducted experiments and compared impact fractures to those found in the archaeological record. He noted that at least some of the fluted points have fractures that had to have been made by high-velocity actions: that is, they were likely fired using spear throwers (atlatls). Big Game Hunters? Since the first unequivocal discovery of Clovis points in direct association with an extinct elephant, scholars have assumed that Clovis people were big game hunters, and the earliest (and likely last) people in the Americas to rely on megafauna (large bodied mammals) as prey. Clovis culture was, for awhile, blamed for the late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions, an accusation that no longer can be leveled. Although there is evidence in the form of single and multiple kill sites where Clovis hunters killed and butchered large-bodied animals such as mammoth and mastodon, horse, camelops, and gomphothere, there is growing evidence that although Clovis were primarily hunters, they didnt rely solely on or even largely on megafauna. Single-event kills simply dont reflect the diversity of foods that would have been used. Using rigorous analytical techniques, Grayson and Meltzer could only find 15 Clovis sites in North America with irrefutable evidence for human predation on megafauna. A blood residue study on the Mehaffy Clovis cache (Colorado) found evidence for predation on extinct horse, bison, and elephant, but also birds, deer and reindeer, bears, coyote, beaver, rabbit, bighorn sheep and pigs (javelina). Scholars today suggest that like other hunters, although larger prey might have been preferred because of greater food return rates  when the large prey wasnt available they relied on a much broader diversity of resources with an occasional big kill. Clovis Life Styles Five types of Clovis sites have been found: camp sites; single event kill sites; multiple-event kill sites; cache sites; and isolated finds. There are only a few campsites, where Clovis points are found in association with hearths: those include Gault in Texas and Anzick in Montana. Single event kill sites (Clovis points in association with a single large-bodied animal) include Dent in Colorado, Duewall-Newberry in Texas, and Murray Springs in Arizona.Multiple kill sites (more than one animal killed at the same location) include Wallys Beach in Alberta, Coats-Hines in Tennessee and El Fin del Mundo in Sonora.Cache sites (where collections of Clovis-period stone tools were found together in a single pit, lacking other residential or hunting evidence), include the Mehaffy site, the Beach site in North Dakota, the Hogeye site in Texas, and the East Wenatchee site in Washington.Isolated finds (a single Clovis point found in a farm field) are too numerous to recount. The only known Clovis burial found to date is at Anzick, where an infant skeleton covered in red ochre was found in association with 100 stone tools and 15 bone tool fragments, and radiocarbon dated between 12,707-12,556 cal BP. Clovis and Art There is some evidence for ritual behavior beyond that involved with making Clovis points. Incised stones have been found at Gault and other Clovis sites; pendants and beads of shell, bone, stone, hematite and calcium carbonate have been recovered at Blackwater Draw, Lindenmeier, Mockingbird Gap, and Wilson-Leonard sites. Engraved bone and ivory, including beveled ivory rods; and the use of red ochre found at the Anzick burials as well as placed on animal bone are also suggestive of ceremonialism. There are also some currently undated rock art sites at Upper Sand Island in Utah which depict extinct fauna including mammoth and bison and may be associated with Clovis; and there are others as well: geometric designs in Winnemucca basin in Nevada and carved abstractions. The End of Clovis The end of the big game hunting strategy used by Clovis appears to have occurred very abruptly, connected with the climate changes associated with the onset of the Younger Dryas. The reasons for the end of big game hunting is, of course, the end of big game: most of the megafauna disappeared about the same time. Scholars are divided about why the big fauna disappeared, although currently, they are leaning towards a natural disaster combined with climate change that killed off all the large animals. One recent discussion of the natural disaster theory concerns the identification of a black mat marking the end of Clovis sites. This theory hypothesizes that an asteroid landed on the glacier that was covering Canada at the time and exploded causing fires to erupt all over the dry North American continent. An organic black mat is in evidence at many Clovis sites, which is interpreted by some scholars as ominous evidence of the disaster. Stratigraphically, there are no Clovis sites above the black mat. However, in a recent study, Erin Harris-Parks found that black mats are caused by local environmental changes, specifically the moister climate of the Younger Dryas (YD) period. She noted that although black mats are relatively common throughout the environmental history of our planet, a dramatic increase in the number of black mats is apparent at the onset of the YD. That indicates a rapid local response to YD-induced changes, driven by significant and sustained hydrologic changes in the southwestern US and High Plains, rather than cosmic catastrophes. Sources Grayson DK, and Meltzer DJ. 2015. Revisiting Paleoindian exploitation of extinct North American mammals. Journal of Archaeological Science 56:177-193.Hamilton M, Buchanan B, Huckell B, Holliday V, Shackley MS, and Hill M. 2013. Clovis Paleoecology and Lithic Technology in the Central Rio Grande Rift Region, New Mexico. American Antiquity 78(2):248-265.Harris-Parks E. 2016. The micromorphology of Younger Dryas-aged black mats from Nevada, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. Quaternary Research 85(1):94-106.Heintzman PD, Froese D, Ives JW, Soares AER, Zazula GD, Letts B, Andrews TD, Driver JC, Hall E, Hare PG et al. 2016. Bison phylogeography constrains dispersal and viability of the Ice Free Corridor in western Canada. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113(29):8057-8063.Hutchings WK. 2015. Finding the Paleoindian spearthrower: quantitative evidence for mechanically-assisted propulsion of lithic armatures during the North American Paleoindian Period. Journal of Archaeological Science 55:34-41. Lemke AK, Wernecke DC, and Collins MB. 2015. Early Art in North America: Clovis and Later Paleoindian Incised Artifacts from the Gault Site, Texas (41bl323). American Antiquity 80(1):113-133.Rasmussen M, Anzick SL, Waters MR, Skoglund P, DeGiorgio M, Stafford Jr TW, Rasmussen S, Moltke I, Albrechtsen A, Doyle SM et al. 2014. The genome of a Late Pleistocene human from a Clovis burial site in western Montana. Nature 506:225-229.Sanchez G, Holliday VT, Gaines EP, Arroyo-Cabrales J, Martinez-Taguena N, Kowler A, Lange T, Hodgins GWL, Mentzer SM, and Sanchez-Morales I. 2014. Human (Clovis)-gomphothere (Cuvieronius sp.) association approximately 13,390 calibrated yBP in Sonora, Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(30):10972-10977.Shott MJ. 2013. Human colonization and late pleistocene lithic industries of the Americas. Quaternary International 285:150-160.Speer CA. 2014. LA-ICP-MS analysis of Clovis period projectile points from the Gault Site. Journal of Archaeolog ical Science 52:1-11. Speth JD, Newlander K, White AA, Lemke AK, and Anderson LE. 2013. Early Paleoindian big-game hunting in North America: Provisioning or Politics? Quaternary International 285:111-139.Surovell TA, Boyd JR, Haynes CV, and Hodgins GWL. 2016. On the dating of the folsom complex and its correlation with the Younger Dryas, the end of Clovis, and megafaunal extinction. PaleoAmerica 2(2):81-89.Thomas KA, Story BA, Eren MI, Buchanan B, Andrews BN, OBrien MJ, and Meltzer DJ. 2017. Explaining the origin of fluting in North American Pleistocene weaponry. Journal of Archaeological Science 81:23-30.Yohe II RM, and Bamforth DB. 2013. Late Pleistocene protein residues from the Mahaffy cache, Colorado. Journal of Archaeological Science 40(5):2337-2343.

Disaster Management System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Disaster Management System - Essay Example More often, the damage is so sudden that all precautionary and preventive measures fail. For example, the hurricane that caused the devastation of Smallville, Florida led to a complete revision of the city's disaster management system. Hence, we define our problem, "there is a need to establish emergency management systems where they are not aligned and strengthen such systems where already applied". After defining the problem we can establish the objective of this essay as "design, develop and ensure successful implementation of a disaster management system which minimizes the probability of destruction caused by a disaster, whether natural or man-made." It is evident that survival chances after a disaster are widely improved if people, governments, organizations and emergency services have sufficient preparation of essentially required plans and equipments. Such measures are highly dependent on the location and can vary with the kind of disasters that may occur in the area. This give rise to the concept of disaster management which is basically a process of continous planning aimed at prevention.. Disaster management therefore refers to programs and measures designed to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from the aftereffects of disasters. Activities that are designed to reduce the risks of damage caused to public through disasters come under mitigation. It involves continous efforts to educate governments, organizations and general public on measures they can take to diminsh loss and injury. Thus, mitigations attempt to prevent the disaster from occurring, or reduce its effects. For example, projects like raising the level of a city and efficient drainage system can prevent floods to cause massive damages. Preparedness Preparedness sets out a series of measures to prepare the masses to tackle with natural or man-made disasters. Usually a policy is directed by the government to prepare for nonmilitary civil emergencies before they happen. Many cities also offer training for community emergency response team. Training is provided to teams of amateur emergency workers in every neighborhood. These are truly useful because in an emergency, emergency service providers are instantly overloaded. The trained amateurs can handle emergency rescues instantly and assist professional emergency services. Response The degree of responsiveness of emergency management services is cruical in minimizing the effects of disaster. A very common problem however is the lack of trained respondents in case of mass emergencies. There are always fewer people handling the situation and larger people suffering from it. Recovery Rebuilding damaged infrastructure and restoring people to their normal course of life is covered under the recovery phase. The essential recovery is to repair bridges and roads so as to give access to rescue teams to the affected areas as well as provide exit routes for the people affected by the disaster. Roads also provide a way to delivering essential supplies like food and water. It is important to understand that all four phases work together. For instance, if the mitigation phase is flawed, the recovery phase even if strong is going to suffer. Human behavior in a Moment of Crises Panic is the right word to define the immediate response of people.

Write a documented ARGUMENT essay for or against illegal immigrants

Write a documented ARGUMENT for or against illegal immigrants receiving social services for example food stamps welfare medical care or financial aid for school - Essay Example This essay points against the illegal migrants receiving social status and other well-beings. Limited legal migration to United States of America is desirable until it takes a longer time to assimilate immigrant population into American culture and values making them American citizens instead of immigrants with foreign nationalities. However, the flow is so steep that the country is even called "nation of immigrants" and is being challenged by globalization, which is making terrorism much easier. The biggest challenge for policymakers is distinguishing illusory immigration problems from real problems. One thing is quite clear: If this drastic situation continues, Native Americans will no longer plays pivotal role in the countries economy. The various efforts of members of congress have focused on a wide variety of changes in current policy, including improving border security, strengthening employer verification, establishing a new temporary guest worker program, and offering some level of amnesty to illegal immigrants currently living in the United States. That will surely promote the living status of original nationalities. . The steep increase in the immigration flow has corresponded with steady and substantial reductions in unemployment from 7.3 percent to 5.1 percent over the past two decades.

Dissociative Identity Disorder Essay Example for Free

Dissociative Identity Disorder Essay The syndrome commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder but now called Dissociative Identity Disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 198) might be thought of as a recent phenomenon. The diagnostic literature shows the definition of multiple personality as evolving significantly over the editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In the DSM-1, these behaviors were called dissociative reaction, (American Psychiatric Association, 1952), which came to be called hysterical neurosis, dissociative type in the DSM-II (American Psychiatric Association, 204). In each of these, multiple personality was not seen as a distinct disorder but was grouped with somnambulism, amnesia, and fugue states. Only in the DSM-III does Multiple Personality Disorder appear as a separate diagnostic category, with a definition of this behavior. This disorders defining features were argued to be the existence within the individual of two or more distinct personalities, each of which is dominant at a particular time (American Psychiatric Association, 257). The DSM-IIIR of 1987 gave nearly identical defining features as the existence within the individual of two or more distinct personalities or personality states (American Psychiatric Association, 269). The defining features evolved further in the DSM-IV where this behavior pattern came to be termed Dissociative Identity Disorder. Its features became the presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states that recurrently take control of behavior (American Psychiatric Association, 484). This subtle change is significant; distinct personalities were no longer seen as existing within the person or as a part of the person, but the behaviors displayed different states or identities. This definition is less organismic and more behavioral-environmental in theory than earlier versions. With the readers extrapolation, the personality is variable behavior or as topographical subdivisions of behavior, occasioned by discriminative stimuli and controlled by reinforcement contingencies. Here, the personality is showing more variability than that of the average or normal individual; the individual lacking one coherent personality displays a personal repertoire of behaviors which is very diverse, with large variability in the relationship between antecedents and responses. The antecedents, that is, people, places, events, and so forth, of the individual in question occasion more responses of an idiosyncratic nature which are maintained by reinforcement contingencies unique to that individual. Along t his approach, one writer took the new definition to mean that the individual displaying these behaviors could no longer be described as having more than one personality. Instead, the person should be viewed as having less than one whole, coherent personality (Sapulsky, 95). Similarly, Kohlenberg and Tsai (82) observed that these individuals may have not developed all the characteristics of a stable, single personality. History Multiple personality was first recognized and described by the French physician Pierre Janet the late 19th century. In the year 1982 psychiatrists were talking about â€Å"the multiple personality epidemic. Yet those were early days as multiple personal ¬ity became an official diagnosis of the American Psychiatric As ¬sociation only in 1980. Ten years earlier, in 1972, multiple personality had seemed to be a mere curiosity. â€Å"Less than a dozen cases have been reported in the last fifty years. † You could list every multiple personality recorded in the history of Western medicine, even if experts disagreed on how many of these cases were genuine as the word for the disorder was rare. Ten years later, in 1992, there were hundreds of multiples in treat ¬ment in every sizable town in North America. Even by 1986 it was thought that six thousand patients had been diagnosed. After that, one stopped counting and spoke about an exponential increase in the rate of diagnosis since 1980. Clinics, wards, units, and entire private hospitals dedicated to the illness were being established all over the continent. Maybe one person in twenty suffered from a dissociative disorder. Clinicians were still reporting occasional cases as they appeared in treatment. Soon the number of patients would be ¬come so overwhelming that only statistics could give an impression of the field (Modestin, 88-92). Public awareness of the disorder increased in contemporary times after a case was the subject of The Three Faces of Eve (1957). In the 1980s and early 90s, such factors as recognition of child abuse, public interest in memories recovered from childhood (whether of actual or imagined events), allegations of so-called satanic ritual abuse, and the willingness of many psychotherapists to assume a more directive role in their patients treatment, led to what came to be regarded as a rash of overdiagnoses of multiple personality. Causes The cause of multiple personality is not clearly understood, but the condition seems almost invariably to be associated with severe physical abuse and neglect in childhood. It is believed that amnesia the key to formation of the separate personalities occurs as a psychological barrier to seal off unbearably painful experiences from consciousness. The disorder often occurs in childhood but may not be recognized until much later. Social and psychological impairment ranges from mild to severe. The fairly-necessary-condition evolved together with the characterization of multiple personality disorder (MPD). According to Cornelia Wilbur and Richard Kluft, â€Å"MPD is most parsimoniously understood as a posttraumatic dissociative disorder of childhood onset. † Here the childhood onset and the presence of trauma are not parts of an empirical generalization or a statistically checkable fairly-necessary-condition. They are part of the psychiatrists` understanding of multiple personality disorder, part of what they mean by â€Å"MPD. † There is nothing methodologically or scientifically wrong with this. I warn only against having it both ways. There is a tendency (a) to define the concept â€Å"MPD† (or dissociative identity disorder) in terms of early childhood trauma, and (b) to state, as if it were a discovery that multiple personality is caused (in the sense of fairly-necessary-condition) by childhood trauma (Horton and Miller, 151-159). Moreover, child sexual abuse became part of the prototype of multiple personality. That is, if you were giving a best example of a multiple, you would include child abuse as one feature of the example. The connection between abuse and multiplicity became stronger and stronger during the 1970s, just when the meaning of â€Å"child abuse† moved from the prototype of battered babies through the full range of physical abuse and gradually centered on sexual abuse. As a point of logic it is useful to see how concepts are used to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps. Those sounds highly figurative, but consider this. In a 1986 essay Wilbur wrote, â€Å"In discussing the psychoanalysis of MPD, Mershkey (330) pointed out that childhood trauma is central and causal. † In fact he ended his prize winning essay by posing some questions. He said that in recent previous reports of multiplicity â€Å"childhood trauma is central and causal† (327-340). The connection between multiple personality and real, not fantasized, child abuse was cemented in clinical journals throughout the 1990s. By 1992 there were vivid musterings of data about the relationship between incest and multiple personality. Philip Coons (299) had stated in his classic 1994 essay on differential diagnosis of multiple personality, he wrote that â€Å"the onset of multiple personality is early in childhood, and is often associated with physical and sexual abuse. At that time no child multiples were known. But the hunt was on. The first in what is now a long series of books of contributed papers about multiple personality had a fitting title: Childhood Antecedents of Multiple Personality (311-315). Prevalence The number of different personalities per MPD patient has shown a substantial increase since the 19th century. During the 19th century, most cases involved only two personalities. Since 1944, however, almost all cases have involved three or more personalities. Modern cases average from 6 to 16 personalities per patient (Coons 305). For instance Modestin (89) reported that 44% of 74 MPD patients each had more than 10 personalities and 8 of these patients had more than 20 personalities each. North, Ryall, Ricci, and Wetzel (2003) plotted the mean number of MPD per patient as a function of year, between 1989 and 2000. In 1989, the average MPD patients manifested just fewer than 10 personalities; by 1999, MPD patients displayed an average of just under 25 personalities per patient. At the present time, MPD appears to be culture-bound syndrome. The explosion of cases since 1970 has thus far remained largely restricted to North America. The diagnosis is very rarely made in modern Europe, despite its turn-of-the-century prominence as a center for the study of MPD. It is also very rare in Great Britain (Modestin,90). Modestin (92) surveyed all of the psychiatrists in Europe concerning the frequency with which they had seen patients with MPD. Depending on how it was calculated, the prevalence rate ranged between . 5% and 1. 0%. More interesting, Modestin noted that 90% of the respondents had never seen a case of MPD, whereas three psychiatrists had seen each seen more than 20 MPD patients. Hence, the frequency of multiple personality has been debated over time. There were some descriptions of these behaviors early in this century, but from the 1920s to the early 1970s, there was a surprising dearth of cases (Spanos, 145). Kohlenberg (138) termed it relatively rare while other reports saw it as very numerous in number; more cases were reported from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s than in the previous two-hundred years. The tremendous increase in reported cases has occurred almost exclusively in North America (Spanos, 147). This behavior pattern is rarely reported in Great Britain, France, and Russia; no case has ever been reported in Japan (Spanos, 160). In both North America and Switzerland, most diagnoses are made by a small minority of professionals while the vast majority of professionals rarely if ever see such a case (Modestin, 90-91). The dramatic increase in the reported numbers of cases has been attributed to differing factors. Possibly, cases which were undiagnosed in previous decades are now being diagnosed because of greater awareness of this condition; it has also been proposed that the condition is now being overdiagnosed in individuals whose behaviors are readily suggestible (American Psychiatric Association, 94). It is probably safe to conclude that the prevalence of Dissociative Identity Disorder is in dispute at this time; some may also dispute the validity of this diagnosis as the DSM-IV, unlike earlier versions of the DSM, does not provide any diagnostic reliability information (American Psychiatric Association, 99). Diagnosis On balance, with the behaviors labeled Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID hereafter, the variability between behavioral repertoires is very high, possibly so extreme that the repertoires do not compose one stable personality (Sapulsky, 64). The person himself or herself may even report being a different person, complete with a different name or identity. Although the behavioral variability is more extreme here, it is still on a continuum with the average person; we all can exhibit several personalities and there are circumstances under which any person might claim to be a different person (Sackeim Devanand, 21). Among the behaviors correlated with a diagnosis of DID, self-report is less controlled by public, environmental events and more controlled by events which are private to the person providing the self-report (Kohlenberg Tsai, 139). The most apparent question is: What type of experiences could account for this extreme behavioral variability, in the self-report of being a different person, with differences in sex, age, race, physical appearance, and so forth. Some writers report that this disorder may only become apparent to a professional or others when different people attend meetings, interviews, or therapy; that is, the same individual attends but with a different self-report of identity, memories, and personality (Sackeim Devanand, 25). In so doing, individuals displaying these behaviors can receive a great deal of reinforcing attention from professionals for engaging in these behaviors. Individuals displaying behaviors correlated with a diagnosis of DID may be reassured of no further abuse and may be encouraged to try to be themselves in as many ways as they can. The different self-reports and personalities become a source of gratification (self-reinforcement) for the formerly abused victims and the professional alike (Spanos, 153). The danger here is that a person with degrees of behavioral variability could be shaped iatrogenically to reporting to be a divergent person by professionals zealously looking for this disorder (Merskey, 329) To quote one skeptic, the procedures used to diagnose MPD often create rather than discover multiplicity (Spanos, 153). Pain complaints, paralysis, blindness, and so forth, also consist of a self-report of a private event. Each of these may be accompanied by publicly observable events such as wincing, reluctantly moving, reporting or appearing to be unable to move or see ( Skinner) Both the self-reports and the public evidence for these differences are under stimulus control of the different personality repertoires in cases of these behaviors. When such an individual displays a specific personality, the self-report of pain or other symptom comes or goes with the other behaviors. Originally, the public signs of pain were authentic afflictions in the past as the result of abuse; months or years later, such indications could be self-produced, rule-governed behavior as part of the personality repertoire. These pains and related behaviors could be reinforced and shaped into a real affliction by well-meaning others as the verbal behavior acquired differential stimulus control of operant pain behavior. The rep orts of pain and related behaviors can persist as operant behavior maintained by its consequences in the absence of the original painful stimuli (Bonica and Chapman, 732). As for the reports in the literature of allergic and other responses being present in some personalities and not others, these too can potentially be accounted for via verbal behavior mechanisms. There are reports that individuals can develop rashes, a wound or a burn or other physiological symptoms in response to anothers verbal suggestions, that is, under hypnosis, although it has been argued that many of these symptoms are likely self-inflicted when observers are not present (Johnson, 298). Actual reports of hypnotically induced dermatological changes are difficult to substantiate; such effects are difficult to produce and are not as common an occurrence as often reported (Johnson, 302). These reports are not all due to the acts of the person showing the symptoms; instead, these symptoms may be due to an interaction of verbal behavior and conditioning mechanisms. Verbal behavior can also facilitate the development of stimulus control via respondent or operant conditioning (Skinner). If an experimenter were to flash a light in your eyes and then shock you, the experimenter would expect you to come to recoil to the light after some number of such pairings. If the experimenter were to tell you that he or she was going to shock you after every light flash, then it would be expected for you to recoil to the light sooner. Relating this to the differential presence of symptoms is not a big leap. Here, the individuals who display the divergent personalities have self-instructed and subsequently conditioned themselves to display symptoms when performing different behavioral repertories. Over time, the symptoms may come under the stimulus control of the emotions displayed, in addition to the persons verbal behavior, and appear spontaneous to the person himself or herself. To support the argument for conditioning mechanisms producing somatic symptoms, Smith and McDaniel (69) showed that a hypersensitive cellular response to tuberculin was modulated by respondent conditioning. Individuals can also exert control over a variety of autonomic functions as diverse as dysmenorrhea to seizure activity, via biofeedback . Treatment From the foregoing assumptions, therapy for persons displaying the behaviors in question must consist of extinguishing a reasonable share of the behavioral variability in the repertoire and reinforcing behavioral stability and generalization; literally, to shape one personality. Kohlenberg (138) reported being able to increase the frequency of specific behaviors composing one personality of an individual who exhibited DID-like behaviors by differential reinforcement of that personality. When placed on extinction, these behaviors returned to baseline frequencies. Other techniques might involve the client role-playing and rehearsing several social interactions and experiencing some situations expected to produce normal emotional behaviors. Kohlenberg (139) reported success at reintegrating the personalities in a dual personality individual by teaching assertiveness skills via role playing. Caddy (268) also used assertiveness training and shaping in reintegration. The therapist might videotape client s as they behave, to use for feedback and in shaping and instructing more cohesive behavior. There might also have to be a way of teaching the client to engage in more social-referencing, or seeking public feedback in more instances of what is acceptable behavior. Whereas you or I might ask, Did you see (or hear) something? when we are unsure of seeing or hearing, individuals whose behaviors are consistent with the label of DID may have to learn to ask, Am I still behaving as me? The therapist could not answer this question alone but family members and significant others could. This process would have to continue until the person reports being the same individual with the same experiences, and has less observable variability in his or her personal repertoire. Even if a therapist were to try to undertake such an intervention, and most would probably not, this process could be long and arduous, due to the multiple sources of control that would require adjustment, and the possibly well-meaning sabotage by those who attend to and reinforce the variability. Indeed, based on this account, control of the behaviors in this pattern would be difficult for anyone to establish. Even the therapist who encourages variance is not exerting control unless unpredictable behavior is the target behavior. As a result, these individuals may have been and will likely be in therapy for years (American Psychiatric Association).

The Status of African-American Soldiers in the Regiments of Massachuset

The Civil War, which began in April of 1861, was a war that most saw as ending by the end of the year – not one person expected it to turn into the long and drawn out slaughter that it became. It was a war that came about originally because of the secession of Southern states from the Union in the belief that the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency would render emancipation inevitable. Only white soldiers fought against each other at the outset of war but by mid-July of 1862, Henry Wilson – a Senator from Massachusetts who strongly opposed slavery – had passed a bill that allowed the President to bring African-Americans into active service in the Union army and following the Emancipation Proclamation the President finally allowed the recruitment of colored regiments. By creating a position for African-Americans in the army the status of these men in northern society was increasingly under question. This reflects recognition of the fact that as slavery became the main issue of the war something had to be done in relation to the position of these men in northern society. However, the changes that occurred could not go unnoticed by the South or by Northern whites and put a final stamp on the sectional division. The institution of slavery and the increasing strain it brought between North and South made questions about the position of African-Americans in society increasingly prominent both amongst whites and blacks. Since they had been removed from their home environment and branded as slaves, a process beginning in 1619, the status of blacks had remained one of inferiority to white Americans. Although Lincoln originally argued that the Civil War was about keeping the Union together, a change would have to occur if the N... ...ntry, 1863-1865. Boston: Boston Book Co., 1894. Fitzgerald, Michael. Splendid Failure: Postwar Reconstruction in the American South. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2007. Glatthaar, Joseph. Forged in Battle: Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. New York: Free Press, 1990. Greenberg, Kenneth. Masters and Statesmen: The Political Culture of American Slavery. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985. Hapgood and Adams, eds. Western Reserve Chronicle. May 20, 1863, image 2. Smith, John. â€Å"Let Us All Be Grateful That We Have Colored Troops That Will Fight.† In Black Soldiers in Blue: African American Troops in the Civil War Era, edited by John Smith, 1-78. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. Williams, George. A History of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1888.

Distinctly Visual Essay

Distinctly Essay A distinctively visual text influences our view of the world, and object or a person by the composer presenting us with new ideas and emotions that let us see from another point of view. Henry Lawson is an Australian writer that has the ability to twist his readers into his stories so they understand the true feelings and emotions of the characters. He presents us with the idea the bush is a negative place to live. But all Australians have a connection with it.Distinctly visual texts affect how we see the world and our relationships with others. Henry Lawson acknowledges the hardships of Australian women whose bravery and perseverance is unfairly over looked. Lawson’s admiration of the wife is evident in the portrayal of a strong and independent female protagonist. While the characters traits of the hattered old dog â€Å"alligator† are amusingly represented, it remains the wife who really fascinates the reader. Her appearance and behaviour can be readi ly pictured and we easily identify with her hopes and fears.He then reflects the harshness with the characterisation of the â€Å"Gaunt sun brown woman† and her â€Å"four ragged, dried up looking children†, This shapes our understanding of the unique Australian traits of toughness and courage towards a hostile environment like the bush. We never learn her name and this anonymity increases the representative role she plays, making the reader more reflective and empathetic about what is revealed, especially when given access t o her thoughts and feelings. By visualising the bush woman’s surroundings the reader can connect with her frame of mind. One is left with an overwhelming sense of loneliness and hardship.Through the use of flashbacks Lawson presents us with the different situations the women has been confront with and the way she has had to overcome them while her husband has been away â€Å"she fought a bush fire.. She fought a flood.. She also fought a m ade bullock’ and now a snake. The vivid imagery of the environment creates the feeling of isolation and monotony that the drover’s wife experiences in her day to day life. Lawson positions us to accept his visual interpretation of life in the bush defined by continual hardship instead of focusing primarily on the contents of the bush, Lawson focuses on what is lacking.The Lost Thing is a humorous story about a boy who discovers a bizarre looking creature while out collecting bottle tops at a beach. Having guessed that it is lost, he tries to find out who owns it or where it belongs, but the problem is met with indifference by everyone else, who barely notice is presence. Each is unhelpful in their own way, strangers, friends, parents are all unwilling to entertain this uninvited interruption to their day to day life.In spite of his better judgement the boy feels sorry for this hapless creature, and attempts to find out where it belongs. The story soon develops into a f able about all sorts of social concerns, with a ambiguous ending. For a start ‘the lost pet’ is unlike anything we might normally expect. It is a huge tentacled monster, not quite animal or machine, with no particular function or origin. Whimsical, purposeless and estranged from everything around it, it is out of place in a much deeper sense that just being ‘lost’.The environment described by the illustrations also resists any simple reading. A treeless industrial metropolis full of excessive plumbing, mysterious and dehumanising architecture, green skies and cheerless citizens. Nobody pays attention to this ‘lost pet’ despite its disruptive presence, every citizen is too busy in their daily routine to notice. The text is written as a matter-of-fact anecdote, told by the boy and addressed to the reader, presented as a kind of â€Å"what I did over summer† story (hence the use of hand-written text on strips of note paper).Significantly, t he creature in question is never physically described, and there is very little said about the environment in which the story unfolds; this is where the illustrations take over. Read by itself the text would sound as though it is about a lost dog in a quite familiar suburb or city, but the pictures reveal a freakish tentacled animal in a surreal a treeless world of green skies, excessive plumbing, concrete and machinery Another short story written by Henry Lawson that displays this connection with the land is â€Å"the loaded dog†.It tells a story of three men that are working on a gold field and leave a explosive lying around. This explosive is then picked up by their dog, who chases them with it lit in its mouth. Unlike â€Å"the drovers wife† Lawson’s ability to balance the harshness of the wish with the larrikin characters. Allows him to make the story entertaining but also life threatening. The visual image of the men following each other being chases by th e dog with an explosive in its mouth is an example of this humour Lawson uses throughout the story to conceal the bush during the tory. Lawson uses the almost dried up creek as an example of the ruthlessness the bush has on it occupants. The men usually use the fish as their main source of food but because it has turned into a â€Å"chain of muddy waterholes.. six to seven feet deep† they are fearing they will starve. So they come up with a plan to catch the fish using an explosive. A dog is also present in â€Å"the loaded dog† but it does not have a protector role like the one in â€Å"the drovers wife† rather Lawson mainly convey â€Å"Tommy.. big, black†¦ retriever dog.. as their four legged mate† this mate ship is the only thing that is positive in the story, although Lawson uses him as the main cause of all the trouble and excitement. Henry Lawson short stories are both visual texts that have contributed to the Australian myth and have become a voice for the individuals of the 1890’s. His stories still have a meaning of heritage and belonging for today’s society. Shaun tans â€Å"the lost thing† provokes questions

What is Anthropocene?

The videos In the website â€Å"Welcome to the Anthropocentric,† discusses about Anthropocentric. Questions that I will answer are what Is Anthropocentric? Why Is It label that way? What are some patterns in the era that are exhibited? Along with why should we care about mass extinction? Anthropocentric is a new geological epoch dominated by humanity.The word â€Å"Anthropocentric† is given its name because human activity has polluted the sea, caused mass extinction of animals and plants, and changed the Earth's natural cycle. Some of the patterns that this era has exhibited re the changes in the Earth's life support system, such as changes within the environment. For example, temperatures and sea levels are changing due to global warming, level of greenhouse gases is rising, and changes In the global water systems Is through damming, extraction, arrogation, and climate change.Furthermore, population, production, and consumption have grown exponentially. We are moving m ore sentiment than natural erosion and rivers. Therefore, there Is a whole In the Ozone and this Is causing us to lose bloodlessly. We should be concern about the mass extinctions of organisms because without hem, we will not have any support for food supplies and the environment. Especially, the functioning of the ecosystem.However, I believe that this catastrophe has been going on for years, however some people have no idea where this will lead us to. We should do something about this and that carries with responsibility. We have the option to stop and act upon the current rate of extinction with measures that will prevent habitat loss, and with regulations and rules that will provide species the kind of safety net that humans have. Most importantly, we must adapt to change.

The American Presidency

The American Presidency offices, which comprehensively handle the different roles and functions.

Colleges With the Lowest ACT Scores, Ranked

Colleges With the Lowest ACT Scores, Ranked SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The college application process can be stressful, but don't worry, if you hopeto attend a four-year universityand havea low ACTscore, there is quite possiblya collegefor you! In this article, I list the universitieswith the lowest 25th percentile ACTscores for their admitted students. The 25th percentile ACTscore signifiesthat 25% of admitted applicantsto the school received an ACT scoreat or below that number. The 75th percentileACTscore signifiesthat 75% ofadmitted applicantsto the school received an ACT scoreat or below that score (25% scored higher).I will also explainwhy you shouldn’t always judge the colleges by their low 25th/75th percentile ACT. Schools Listed in Ascending Order of 25th/75th Percentile with Admission Rate I compiled this comprehensive list through online research. I chose to organize the schoolsin ascending order by 25th percentile score (rather than the 75th percentile score) so you could see the lowest ACT scores allowed for admission to these universities: School Name 25th Percentile ACT Score 75th Percentile ACT Score Admission Rate Rust College 13 14 9% Shaw University 13 16 61% Livingstone College 13 16 72% Saint Augustines College 13 17 67% Huston-Tillotson University 13 17 46% Virginia Union University 13 17 83% Jarvis Christian College 13 18 100% Paul Quinn College 13 18 99% Cheyney University of Pennsylvania 14 16 88% Lane College 14 17 33% Chowan University 14 18 58% Paine College 14 18 44% Marygrove College 14 19 42% Johnson C.Smith University 15 19 37% Texas Southern University 15 19 45% Cal State Dominguez Hills 15 19 80% Alabama State University 15 20 54% Cal State Los Angeles 15 20 62% Mid-Atlantic Christian University 15 20 Unknown Ferrum College 15 20 74% Southern Vermont College 15 21 75% Why Are Their 25th/75th Percentiles So Low? Should You Be Concerned? There are several possibilities as to why these colleges have lower ACT score averages than other schools.A lot of the universities in this article are specialized colleges offering specific degree programs or a religious education. As such, these colleges may weight other application components more heavily than the ACT score such as artistic talent or religious involvement. For example, Mid-Atlantic Christian University says,"Student candidates who deeply desire an education from a Christian world view; yet who may not meet all of the criteria as outlined above may be admitted to the University in a provisional status and are encouraged to apply." Additionally, several of the universities above have a large difference between the 25th and 75th percentile score (some with a more than 6 point difference).Applicants whose scores were at or below the 25th percentile may have uniques reasons for being admitted such as being the child of a significant donor, a legacy, an athlete, or an exceptional talent (such as a world-renowned opera singer). However, another reason these schools accept applicants with low scores could bedue to theirhigh admission rates; these colleges need to accept morestudents to fill up theirfreshman class. A few of the abovecollegesacceptnearlyevery applicantand, therefore,will have a larger score range. You should not necessarily be concerned by a school’s low 25th/75th percentile.A low ACT average may simply suggest, as I noted above, that the college is choosing to admit students for other reasons. Many universities are no longer even asking for a standardized test score with your application. This does not mean that you should not consider attending one of these schools. All it means is that the admissions offices no longer consider standardized tests to be a good representation of your higher education potential. That being said, many of the universities listed aboveare not known for their stellar academics. If you're looking for an intellectual challenge, these probably are not the schools for you. Unfortunately, there are colleges thatonlyexist to make money, and their alumniend up with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. For-profit schools are typicallythe worst offenders, but some non-profit universities also have a lower quality of education and leave their alumni with few job optionsafter graduation. Make sure to choose your college carefully. When choosing where to apply, you should not necessarily take into account their ACT average, but rather you should ask yourself whether that school is right for you: What majors does it offer? Where is it located? Will I get financial aid? For help deciding where to apply to college,check out our guide to finding the right school for you. What’s next? Check out our other articles for help with the college application process: Cheap Out of State Colleges: Top 25 Most Affordable The 37 Most Expensive Colleges in the United States Do Colleges Use Weighted or Unweighted GPA? Should I Go to a Big or Small College? Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically. Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Tweet Dora Seigel About the Author As an SAT/ACT tutor, Dora has guided many students to test prep success. She loves watching students succeed and is committed to helping you get there. Dora received a full-tuition merit based scholarship to University of Southern California. She graduated magna cum laude and scored in the 99th percentile on the ACT. 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