Brief Description On The Milk Scandal Commerce Essay

Brief Description On The Milk Scandal Commerce Essay The toxic milk scandal became public in August 2008 with the disclosure that the baby formula produced by Sanlu was contaminated with melamine, which caused kidney failure among the babies who consumed it. However, until the Chinese Health Ministry confirmed on Sep 12, 2008, that the milk powder produced by Sanlu was contaminated by melamine, neither the government nor the company took any actions to warn the public. Later, government inspections reported that the products of 21 other dairy firms were also contaminated with melamine. Even as the milk scandal unfolded, many countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, and Indonesia rushed to ban Chinese dairy products. Foreign companies which sold China made products or products which used Chinese ingredients had to recall their products. overview of food industry business ethics Significance of business ethics Nowadays, the issue of business ethics comes to peoples mind more frequently especially in the food industry since food are the essential items for human and it will affect our health directly. In 2004, the use of hair in the production of soya sauce was exposed and made headlines in the press. Moreover, there is many more news about China how they use very cheap material like industrial acid and oil to mix into their food products in order to minimize the introduction costs. As a developing country, business in China is developing very rapidly. It is now playing a more decisive role in social life and almost all people would be involved in business activities. As a result, unethical business behavior would have negative influence towards society. Hence, society is now more concerned with the issue of business ethics. Since the Chinese foods are now exported all over the world, ethical practice of Chinese enterprise issues are the key factors to be success. General perception on business ethics in food industry There is much news recently that related to food safety in world wide. Therefore, consumers have three types of ethical concerns toward food industry. Methods of Production and Distribution The production of food raises a number of issues that need to be considered. The packaged food industry essentially consists of manufacturing using farm produce. Clearly hygiene, quality control, health and safety considerations are of great importance. The following are among the issues that should be considered as per my knowledge: 1. Animal welfare in the meat products industry. 2. Use of child or bonded labour, or employment of illegal immigrants. 3. The International Labor Organization (ILO) standards provide useful benchmarks in this area. 4. Improper use of the pesticides, antibiotics, and other chemicals. 5. Misuse of water resources and the consequent impact on local farmers 6. Good quality control of the food supply 7. Ensure the material supply and healthy to human 8. Use environmental friendly packaging as much as possible for the packaging 9. Inform the actual gradients of the food contented 10. Inform the public immediately once unhealthy food was produced and distribute to market According to our observation toward Chinese business, their objective of the business is only generating profits as much as possible. The ethical senses are not significance within the society. Reason behinds the widespread sufferings of the infants According to the case content, there is several factors lead to this hazard. On Sanlu In fact, Sanlu acknowledged the problem far beyond the serious ha affects hazard explored in 2008. From the case content, there were several customer complained the problem to Sanlu about the ill effect of taking the milk by infants. However, Sanlu chose not to launch this news to alarm general public due to they do not wanted to affect its sales and image. In addition, they were not willing to import the sophisticated milk test machine from overseas. On Government First, we believed that Chinese government has too much confidence on the self governance by the enterprise especially on Sanlu these big companies. One of the regulations implemented was the inspection-free policy. A company would not be required to undergo inspection for a period of 3 years if it can meet the following three requirements: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Product with stable quality à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ High market share à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ passed the inspection for more than 3 consecutive times However, past performance did not reflect that there will be not problems in future. Since, the demand of Chinese milk increased significantly and the milk supply source has been polluted, the problem got serious in 2008. If Chinese government inspected the quality of Sanlu continuously, the situation will be under controlled. Moreover, the respond of the milk incident was too slow to control the situation. The Shijiazhang government and the Communist Party of China did not report about the said issue to the provincial and state level authorities till 9 Sep, 2008. At that time, about 53000 infants were already affected. On the steadily growth market and growth strategy of Sanlu Since there is high demand in milk industry and there is not strict control over the milk supply, more and more farmer and agent joined the supply market for making money. The situation got worse after the Mengniu and Yili enter into the Hebei market because the supply of milk was tight in this fast growth market. Since the milk demand from Sanlu and other company increased steadily, the market collection station cannot get enough milk for production. Since it is a profitable market to sell milk to these producers, many middlemen aroused and sell the milk to Sanlu directly. They were not ethical enough since they had diluted the milk to increase the supply volume for more profit and they added this melamine into the milk which was harmful to infants. Since not quality inspection from milk station, this toxic milk was finally gone into the market and lead to the milk scandal finally. Sanlu also needed to responsible on this issue since its growth strategy in market share made they ign ore the quality control by milk station and make this incident. Finally, the covered error of the milk scandal did not made the problem dismissed. Reversely, it generated a serious problem not only about the image destroyed of Sanlu its own but also the image of Chinese milk products, hundred thousand of farmer made not income and needed to kill all of their cows as well as thousands of infant were suffered from Kidney stone. If proper action has been done, the situation will be better. Sanlu and Government actions toward the milk scandal On September 17, 2008, the Chinese Health Minister, announced that melamine contaminated milk had led to more than 6,200 children falling ill in the country and over 150 children suffered acute kidney failure. Six days later it was announced that four children had died and the number of children falling ill had increased to 54,000. On Sanlus production and management actions On September 12, 2008, the Hebei provincial government ordered Sanlu to stop production after preliminary investigation confirmed that melamine contaminated baby formula was the reason for kidney stones among children. The company was also ordered to stop sales of all brands of its baby formula, recall its products, and destroy all the products that were unsold and recalled. Also Sanlu set up a fund of 800,000,000 yuan, which 700,000,000 yuan was estimated to be the compensation amount that the compensation amount that the company needed to pay to its customer such as refund, hospital expenses and compensation on sick or death of the infants. On September 15, 2008, Sanlu had issued a public apology of its role in the milk scandal. Zhang Zhenling (Zhenling), Vice President of Sanlu, read out a letter of apology at a news conference in Shijiazhuang, The serious safety accident of the Sanlu formula milk powder for infants has caused severe harm to many sickened babies and their families. We feel really sad about this. Sanlu Group expresses its most sincere apology to you. We solemnly declare we will recall all the infant milk powder produced prior to August 6. And for those produced after that date, we will also make a recall if consumers have doubts and worries.15 Later, Sanlu also sacked Wenhua. On Government actions The Health Ministry informed the World Health Organization, Hong Kong, and Macaus health departments, the New Zealand Embassy in China, and the press about the melamine contamination in baby formula. The Ministry also announced that a free medical checkup would be given to affected children. It sent medical specialists to hospitals across China to help treat the affected children. Started from September 2008, the Chinese government started a nationwide inspection of baby milk powder. It announced that liquid milk products including packaged milk and yoghurt would be checked for melamine contamination. On September 16, 2008, GAQSIQ announced an inspection of all Chinese baby milk powder makers and found traces of melamine in 69 batches of baby formula produced by 22 companies including brands like Mengniu,12 Yili,13 and Bright Dairy.14 After the inspection, these dairy firms were ordered to stop new production and sale of dairy products. As the milk scandal escalated, steps were also taken against some government officials. While some of them were sacked, some of them resigned owning moral responsibility. On September 17, 2008, Ji Chuntang, Vice-Secretary of the Shijiazhuang Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Mayor of Shijiazhuang, was removed from his job. Earlier, four officials including the Vice Mayor in charge of agricultural production, the Director of Shijiazhuang Municipal Animal Husbandry and Fishery Bureau, the Director of Shijiazhuang Municipal Food and Drug Administration, and the Director of Shijiazhuang Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision were dismissed. On September 22, 2008, Li Changjiang, the Director of GAQSIQ, resigned. On September 26, 2008, four executives of Sanlu including Wenhua were arrested for producing and selling sub-standard products. Milk dealers and suppliers were also arrested for selling contaminated milk to dairy companies. Jiabao, the then Premier of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China, said, The government will put more efforts into food security, taking the incident as a warning. What we are trying to do is to ensure no such event happens in future, by punishing those responsible leaders as well as enterprises. None of those companies lacking professional ethics or social morals will be let off.16 In an effort to restore confidence among domestic and international consumers, the Chinese government introduced a new set of quality control standards which included strict limits for melamine in dairy products. In the case of infant formula, the limit was set at one milligram of melamine per kilogram and the limit for liquid milk at 2.5 milligrams per kilogram. On October 09, 2008, in an effort to stimulate the dairy industry of China, the Chinese government announced an emergency rescue plan for the affected dairy farmers. The government planned to give 300 million Yuan in subsidy. In addition, the interest rate for loans granted to dairy producers to buy raw milk was also reduced by 3 percent for the period between October and December in 2008. Some local governments in China had also promised to give a subsidy to the dairy farmers. For example, the Hebei province had allocated 316 million Yuan (US$46.4 million) as subsidies to dairy farmers. The dairy companies in China had to recall several thousand tons of melamine contaminated milk products. Sanlu was ordered to recall its products immediately after the Hebei provincial government found melamine contamination in its baby formula. After GAQSIQ had found melamine contamination in the products of 22 Chinese dairy companies, they were also asked to recall their products. On October 15, 2008, GAQSIQ ordered recall of all dairy products made before September 14, 2008. According to a notice issued by the agency, All supermarkets, shops, and all city, town, and village-level vendors will urgently remove and seal up all milk powder and liquid milk made before September, pending further testing. On December 27, 2008, it was announced by the Chinas Dairy Industry Association that the affected children and their families would get compensation from the 22 companies found guilty of producing and selling contaminated milk powder. According to the statement issued by the Association, The enterprises offered to shoulder the compensation liability. By doing so, they hope to earn understanding and forgiveness of the families of the sickened children. The money for compensation is in place now and will soon be handed to the people who have custody of the sickened children through various channels. If the babies suffer from relative after-effects, all medical fees will be covered by the fund. In a letter sent to the victims and their families by these 22 companies, the compensation amount was specifically mentioned for sick children, for those who were suffering from kidney failure, and for families whose kids had died because of the tainted milk powder. It was also mentioned in the l etter that dairy producers would set up a fund to pay the medical costs of the children who were ill, until they reached the age of 18. On January 22, 2009, two people were sentenced to death for their involvement in the Chinese milk scandal. Wenhua was given a life imprisonment and three other executives were given imprisonment from five to fifteen years In my personal opinion, the government failed to supervise product quality responsible. The effectiveness of the regulatory environment in China is slow in disclosure the hazard as well as makes prompt action to stop it. According to some research in the internet, there were many government departments to monitor food safety in China. As there was no single agency to look after all product safety regulations and enforcement in the country and there was no clear hierarchy of agencies, the duties of different departments often overlapped. Recommendations to Sanlu to recover its goodwill as well as Chinese milk industry toward global Investors who had already invested in the Chinese dairy industry were worried about regaining consumers confidence. In this respect it means consumers are now thinking twice before purchasing such products, so the key challenge now is to regain the consumers trust. As you can recall the case from Hong Kong, Vitasoy milk and Lemon tea also suffer from big hazard of the pollution in production line and made the milk turns sour in around ten years old. We believed as a well known organization with market leadership role, they can recover their goodwill step by step like Vita Corporation in order to gain the customer confidence again as below. However, the situation in Hong Kong is much easier to turnover since the government and the legislation control is much strict and clear to follow. If Sanlu would like to gain back the image, both Sanlu and Government needed to do something to ensure the quality of their products is healthy and safe to customer usage. We believe that ethical business environment is the key issue to recover the confidence from general public on the Chinese milk production On Government Regulations To avoid similar incident happen again, implementing of new issues and regulations are necessary. For example, AQSIQ should have regular and sudden inspection on the quality of products. The food industry inspection should be in random and strictly follow the international standard norm. Laws and ethics Nonetheless, only depends on laws, it is not sufficient to ensure the problem would not exist in future. It is more difficult to depend on enterprise to follow the law in PRC such the corruption and education level is not high. There are many acts that are legal but unethical. And there are also many people use money to change illegal to legal by cover the problem or override the checking from government. As in the milk scandal, the use of small amount of melamine was legal because it is not harmful to adult; there was no regulation on it. It is clear that laws cannot fully control human behavior; as law is only norm to control people behave. However, for business ethics, the standard is much higher than that of laws. It is because as a highly ethical company, their goals are not only profit but also care of the public as well as their customer. Ethics is not concerned only with peoples behavior. It is a standard for our core values. As an individual or a company, in addition to bein g legal, being ethical is the key which shows that their values are of higher standard rather than meeting the minimum requirement only. As a ethical corporation, Sanlu should use the concept that customers babies are their babies, they will not give some harmful materials or potential harmful ingredient towards their own babies. They should care the health of all babies although add melamine and dilute milk can be acceptable to increase production. Education on general public Peoples behavior is actually influenced by norm, attitude and values from the society and most likely are from their own family. Changes in norm, attitude and values are very important for improving business ethics. We believed that it is the value of Chinese enterprise was too famous on profit and do not know clearly what ethical standard they needed. Hence, on top of implementation of measures and regulations, education on both top management and employees would be the most fundamental way to do so. For example, government can improve more foreign consultant and special to teach ethic and made speech in university to raise the concern of general public and know they can do it profitability like coca cola, nestle as well as PG etc. On Sanlu itself Ethic knowledge training Unethical issues cannot be done by only one level. If the ethical standards are enough in the company, they will carry out a mutual inspection on other actions toward ethic enterprise. For example, before employees go to their working positions, the company should provide ethics training, covering ethical issues and addressing the rules, compliance requirement and the corporate values to their employees. Let employees realize the importance of business ethics for the company as well as their own. During training, discussions on cases of ethical dilemma and analysis with employees are valuable in developing employees awareness of business ethics and ethical competency. Furthermore, the company should communicate information about the reporting mechanisms with all employees. When there is any unethical behavior, employees can report to the company immediately. This would be the most efficient way to discover any problems and take prompt actions to solve them. Quality control process and crisis management Since Sanlus image was totally damaged in this incident, we recommend that Sanlu can import the modern of art testing machine for strict quality control and the production chain should be more transparent toward general public. They can set up a additional inspection team which contains outsiders from other milk industrys expert and also foreign country representative to investigate the production channel, sourcing as well as the healthy and safety level on its our products. Therefore, the general public may slowly regain its confidence on Sanlus milk products. Also, the management team should have a knowledge sharing about the investors New Zealand industry on how they manufacture the milk and ensure the required process and ethical norm can be implemented in Sanlu to regain the image from global market. Once the incident happened again, Sanlu should know how to reduce the negative effect toward customer like stop production immediately, message general public timely and recall all affected products from retailer and dealers in order to show their sophisticated experience in crisis management. Like Vita group, we believe that the market will accept their products again. In conclusion, we believe that the critical factor on this incident and regain image of Sanlu in the case is all about ethics. We believed that the technology and expertise in China are enough to produce healthy and safety products. However, their action has been affected by the norm to earn as much money as possible in short period of time by legal but no ethical actions. In order to reduce the negative image toward Chinese product such as foods, drinks, electronic and toy. Chinese government should pay more effort on improve the ethical standard by education and control of the government officials. If they cannot to do so, the short-term goal of Chinese enterprise toward profits without concern on general public would affect the development of the economy of whole Chinese market.

Children and Adoption Act Legislation Evaluation

Children and Adoption Act Legislation Evaluation Looking at ‘The Children and Adoption Act’ identify and trace the development of the policy in its present format Introduction In 2005 the Children and Adoption Act was created in response to a green paper entitled Parental Separation: Children’s Needs and Parents’ Responsibilities (2004). This new bill addresses issues both in the realm of contact between children and separated parents, and foreign adoption issues. However, for the purposes of this essay the researcher will focus on the issues of contact, as these are the most pressing and widely talked about aspects of the bill. Firstly, we will outline the major points of this legislation. As a response to the green paper and an update on both the 2002 Making Contact Work report and the 1989 Children Act, the Children and Adoption Act (2005) aims to address certain key issues of contact between separated or divorced parents and children. The major part of the legislation deals with new processes and powers given to courts when issuing and enforcing contact orders. Firstly, a new initiative known as ‘contact activity directions’ is now available to the courts. These directions allow the court to help promote contact between non-resident parents and children through various courses or counselling. For example, by going for psychiatric or physical treatment to improve the likelihood of cooperation between children and the separated parents. Additional powers granted to the courts are also an important part of this bill. The court now has added power to monitor contact and to report back to the court about the maintenance of such orders. Further, the court now needs to attach a notice of warning to contact orders stating the consequences of a breach of the order. Family assistance orders can now be issued in more than just exceptional circumstances, allowing for a greater opportunity to develop cooperation and contact arrangements. The way in which a breach of a contact order can be punished has also changed. In the past, options open to the court were to put the parent in breach in prison or fine them an amount of money, transfer residence of the children to the other parent, or do nothing. These options were often inadequate or not available in all cases, and so the laws have been changed. A parent in breach of a contact order can now face what is known as an ‘enforcement order’ which can be applied for by either parent or the children concerned. This enforcement order will invoke a requirement for unpaid work on the offender, meaning they will have to carry out a certain amount of duties or work for no fee – much like community service. The court needs to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the person is failing or has failed to comply, and that the making of an order is necessary to secure compliance with the order. Once an order is initiated, a Children and Family Court Advisory a nd Support Service (CAFCASS) officer will monitor the situation and report back to the court about compliance. If breach occurs again then the order can be extended or increased as the court sees fit. Another way in which a breach can be punished by the court is through compensation to the other party for financial loss suffered as a consequence of the breach. This is meant to be compensation rather than a punitive payment, and is based upon the financial situation of the offender as well as the needs of the child. These are the main areas of interest in the new Children and Adoption Act in terms of contact, and will be discussed in detail throughout the rest of the essay. In order to do this, the reasoning and objectives behind this new bill first need to be look at. The three main objectives are as follows: To promote and stimulate contact activity between children and non-resident parents To improve the monitoring of compliance with contact orders and reduce delays in complying with these orders. To give the courts increased powers to punish breaches of contact orders that punish the offender and result in compliance rather than harming the welfare of the child. These objectives are in response to a number of issues raised over the last few years. Of these issues, the most notable is the bias towards mothers in terms of contact, with the majority of mothers being the resident parent after separation. Many examples of fathers being denied contact by mothers are documented, and some of these will be discussed later in the essay. The main aim of this essay is to compare the current Children and Adoption Bill to previous legislation, and whether or not it manages to meet its objectives and address the issues that have caused controversy over the last 15 years. The researcher aims to show that whilst this new legislation does go some way to improving the previous situation and improving the chances of contact between children and non-resident parents, it still lacks gender specific policies to deal with the socio-cultural bias towards mothers in parental disputes over contact. Comparisons with previous legislation The original legislation put in place to deal with issues of parental separation and child contact were outlined in the 1989 Children Act. The major problems with this legislation were that it didn’t give enough powers to courts to enforce compliance of contact orders, and that contact was not generally promoted outside of the orders. This resulted in many orders being breached and lengthy delays in getting breached orders enforced. The powers open to the courts meant that many non-resident parents, usually fathers, were unable to see their children due to mothers denying access. Another problem is that the 1989 Act gave parental responsibility automatically to the mother if the parents were not married at the time of the child’s birth, and the father had to apply for responsibility if an agreement could not be reached with the mother. Basically, the rights of a non-married father were fairly limited under this bill. Also, there was a severe lack of monitoring in terms of compliance with the bill and the general contact situation. This left the door open for unfounded allegations by mothers against the fathers in order to stop or delay contact. Even those fathers that clearly established themselves as fit to have contact often found they were unable to obtain contact in the face of hostility from the resident parent. Even with court intervention, not much could often be done. The options open to the court were to put the mother in prison, fine the mother, hand over residence to the father or do nothing. Prison and monetary sanctions were often not practical as they harmed the welfare of the child, and residence passing to the father was not always possible if their residence was unsuitable for the child. In many cases, a severely non-compliant mother would face no penalties for breaching the contact order, and so the father would be unable to see the child at all. Although it wasn’t always the case that the father lost out, even when he was able to get contact there were often large delays and extreme stress involved to do so, and the situation could change. Examples of just how difficult it was for the courts to make decisions about contact under this legislation can be seen in the following two case examples. 1 Family Law Reform 1279 (2004). In S (A Child) (Contact : Promoting Relationship with Absent Parent). The appeals court looked at a father appeal against the dismissal of an application for direct contact with his daughter, aged six. There had been separation between parents five years previously, and voluntary arrangements that had worked in the beginning had since broken down. The child was reluctant to have contact, mainly due to the mother’s extreme reluctance to make any form of contact work, and there were unproven allegations of domestic violence by the mother against the father. The president of the FLR put the dilemma as follows: â€Å"If a mother is truly recalcitrant, the court can commit to prison for contempt or fine the mother. Most mothers do not have enough money to pay a significant fine and this sanction is seldom used, particularly since she is the primary carer of the child. Equally the sanction of prison for mothers who refuse to allow contact is a heavy one and may well be a self-defeating one†¦At this stage also the court may have the evidence that the continuing efforts to persuade the mother to agree to contact are having a disproportionately adverse effect upon the child whose welfare is paramount and the court may find it necessary, however reluctantly, to stop trying to promote contact. That is a very sad situation but may be necessary for a short or for a longer time if the welfare of the child requires it†. In this case, she granted the appeal to allow the parties to jointly instruct a consultant child psychiatrist to asses the family and the contact prospects. Although this is in some way positive, it doesn’t help the father see his child at all, and delays contact even further. This next case of 1 FLR 1226 (2004) D (A Child) (Intractable Contact Dispute : Publicity) shows even further the problems that occur for fathers when the mother denies access. The mother had in this case had not allowed the father to see his daughter at all for 2.5 years, and it was clear this situation was not going to change. Munby J concluded that the father would have to abandon his contact application because the mother was clearly not going to change her mind, and there was very little the courts could do to change this situation. He said: â€Å"There are no simple solutions. And it is idle to imagine that even the best system can overcome all problems. The bitter truth is that there will always be some contact cases so intractable that they will defeat even the best and most committed attempts of judges. But that is no reason for not taking steps — urgent steps — to improve the system as best we can†. This was clearly a injustice, and many pressure groups have formed over the years to combat such issues and greatly improve the rights of fathers in these proceedings. This has come about due to such cases as well as the clear desire of modern fathers to be more involved in the lives and upbringing of their children (O’Brien Shemilt, 2003). Two of the main groups around today are Families Need Fathers and Fathers For Justice (see websites www.fnf.org.uk and www.fathers-4-justice.org/home/index.html). Families Need Fathers have tried to combat these issues by appealing for change, and are the largest such charity in the UK. Fathers For Justice are quite different in their approach, and have staged aggressive protests over recent years involving climbing up buildings dressed as superheroes and often getting arrested for their troubles. However, their controversial protests have divided the community on these issues, with many believing their actions show real passion whilst others believing their reckless behaviour does nothing for the cause and simply damages the reputations of other fathers (Kelly, 2006). Although these groups vary radically in their ways of tackling the issues, their existence clearly shows the desire for change. The previously mentioned cases and increasing coverage in the media led to the 2002 review of policy in the 2002 report by the Children’s Act Sub-Committee to the Lord Chancellor entitled Making Contact Work. Many of the issues raised in cases and through the work of pressure groups came to the fore in this report, including the issues of giving courts more power, reducing delays, promoting contact and increasing monitoring facilities so that contact orders are maintained. This report set the foundation for the 2004 Green paper and the subsequent Children and Adoption Act in 2005. The benefits of this act will be looked at next. Benefits of the Children and Adoption Act The Children and Adoption Act (2005) has been seen as a possible breakthrough in the fight against inequality for non-resident parents, and a step towards better contact once separation has occurred. In general terms, the Act is an acknowledgement that previous laws were inadequate in terms of contact orders and rights for non-resident parents in the face of non-compliance from resident parents. The first major benefit of this act is the new powers to promote contact through the use of contact direction activities. Previously, a non-compliant resident parent might feel that the non-resident parent is unfit or unsuitable to be allowed contact with the child or children. However, contact direction activities allow the resident parent to get reassurances that the non-resident parent is altering their behaviour and improving through various treatments and counselling. This can help promote contact and allow the parties involved to work towards an amicable solution. If this does not work, then the consequences of breaching the contact order are far clearer than they were before. Although non-compliant resident parents generally knew the consequences previously, they were not as firm as they are now or as enforceable. The new laws regarding punishment for breach are also a big improvement on the previous penalties of fines and imprisonment. The unpaid work punishment via an enforcement order is much more workable, and provides real consequences for the non-compliant parent as well as reducing the harm to the child. The further punishment of compensation is also better than a fine, as this money still stays within the parent unit and the financial situation and welfare of the child are taken into account. However, perhaps the most important benefit associated with this new bill is the increased monitoring facilities on offer, allowing for quicker decisions and a reduction in delays for non-resident parents. Through monitoring by CAFCASS and court officials, evidence regarding allegations made against parents can be quickly obtained and the status of compliance with the contact order can also be monitored. This acts as a deterrent against making unfounded allegations and breaching the contact order, and also allows for speedy reestablishment of contact should the order be broken. Overall, the Children and Adoption Act (2005) represents a definite improvement on previous legislation. Despite this, there are still many issues that are not resolved, especially in terms of gender bias. The next section will deal with these specific issues and how they relate to the new bill. Gender Issues Not Dealt With Although the bill is seen as an improvement on the 1989 legislation, it has still come in for much criticism for not dealing with the gender issues that are at the heart of debate on contact law. The new Children and Adoption Act does make it easier for contact laws to be enforced, but shies away from issues of gender bias that have been the major cause for concern for many people. The law still fails to deal with the major issue of gender bias towards mothers due to the large percentage of mothers who are the resident parents after separation, and the general socio-cultural bias in favour of the importance of mothers for children. It has also been noted by the aforementioned pressure groups that mothers often obstruct or at the very least fail to encourage contact for the non-resident father. It is believed that a more adequate solution to the problem would be to give an automatic 50:50 division to parents, thereby eliminating gender bias altogether. Although this is a very good idea in principle, in practical terms it is unlikely to work because of the possibly unsuitability of one parent in such situations, and so a 50:50 split might not be in the best interests of the children involved. Although it is generally accepted that the bias is still towards mothers, there is some evidence to suggest that the gender bias goes both ways, and is more a bias towards the non-resident parent than a gender specific issue. In Kielty (2005), the views a small sample of non-resident mothers in the UK, who now number over 130,000, are taken into account. It shows that although many of the non-resident mothers have a good relationship with their children and still have contact, that some are denied access due to the reluctance of the resident father to allow contact. In these cases, it has been no easier for the mothers to gain access than it has for the typical non-resident fathers. This study further shows how the Children and Adoption Act fails to deal with all aspects of the gender bias in contact cases, and due to the much higher number of non-resident fathers than non-resident mothers, the legislation can be seen as much more favourable to mothers than it is to fathers. One thing that was also made clear in the Kielty (2006) study and Sobolewski and King (2005) study is that these gender bias issues can be overcome, but only if the parents have a good relationship and are willing to work together. In the Kielty (2006) study, the mothers who generally had contact with their children were the ones who had voluntarily become the non-resident parent, and had a good level of cooperation with their ex-partners. The same was true in the Sobolewski and King (2005) study, where it found that high levels of parental cooperation allowed for increased levels of contact and less of a need for court proceedings. However, the study also found that cooperation after separation was fairly uncommon, with 66% of mothers saying the father of their child had no influence on the child’s upbringing. It is clear that more needs to be done than the current legislation allows for, and although the objectives of giving more power to the courts, reducing delays and improving monitoring have been met, the issues of gender bias and cooperation still need much work. The findings of this essay will now be concluded, and there will also be a look at what the future holds for parental contact legislation. Conclusions It is clear that the problems of the 1989 Children Act seen in various case examples, and the continued campaigning and media coverage of pressure groups have helped to shape the Children and Adoption Act of 2005. In many ways, this bill is a huge step forward in the fight to establish equality of contact with children for resident and non-resident parents after separation. There is a great improvement in the powers of the court to enforce the contact orders, and much more workable punishments for breaches. Also, monitoring has been improved with the cooperation of CAFCASS and so delays in getting contact orders and allegations analysed are being reduced. Also, the ability to promote contact through contact direction activities is a definite step in the right direction. It can be said that the three main objectives of increasing court powers, improving promotion of contact and improve contact order monitoring have all been achieved. However, there are still some major issues that have not been dealt with, namely the gender bias still in place against fathers. With so many more non-resident fathers than non-resident mothers, and the increased likelihood of mothers to deny access to fathers, the legislation still does not give fathers the equal rights to see their children that they deserve. In a bid to address this, the government is now trying to focus on improving cooperation between separated parents so as to ease conflict and reduce the problems of bias in the legislation. One way that this is being done is through pilot family resolution projects (Samuel, 2006). These pilot schemes have had a fairly low turnout, but have shown that agreements can be reached through an improvement in mutual parent understanding and cooperation. However, there is still a long way to go to make this scheme workable, and so far results are not much better than for in-court conciliation. The gender bias issue definitely needs to be dealt with through future legislation or more effective means of improving cooperation between parents. Also, the involvement of the children in this process is key, especially those older children. Their needs and opinions should be of paramount importance when deciding the outcome of contact disputes. The current legislation is definitely an improvement, but there is still much to be done if fathers are to have the same rights of contact as mothers after parental separation. Bibliography Clarke, C., Falconer, Hewitt, P. (2004) Parental Separation: Childrens Needs and Parents Responsibilities Green Paper, The Stationery Office, London Connolly, J., Kellet, J., Notley, C., Swift, L. and Trinder, L. (2006) Making contact happen or making contact work? The process and outcomes of in-court conciliation. Department for Constitutional Affairs Research Unit, London Department for Education and Skills DfES (2005) Children and Adoption Bill (HL) Explanatory Notes http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmbills/096/eii/06096x-.htm Edwards, J. (2006) Enforcement of Contact Orders A New Era? in Family Law. Vol. 36 pi 25- 130 ePolitix (2006) Children and Adoption Bill [HL] http://www.epolitix.com/EN/Legislauon/200505/9483aedc-eaac-4cla-be3a-4aOdcalOb330.htm Families Need Fathers FNF (2005) Parental Responsibility http://www.fnf.org.uk/pro.htm Fathers 4 Justice (2005) Fathers 4 Justice Campaign Objectives http://www.fathers-4-justice.org/campaign objectives/indexhtm Fathers 4 Justice (2005) Fathers 4 Justice Press Articles http://www.fathers-4-justice.org/press articles/index.htm Fawcett Society (2006) Family Courts Fact sheet http://www.fawcettsocietv.org.uk/documents/Family%20courts%20factsheet.doc (Accessed May 2006) Kelly, L. (2006) Real dads failed by clowns of F4J Opinion in The Sun. 21 January 2006 Kielty, S. (2005) Mothers are Non-resident Parents Too: A Consideration of Mothers Perspectives on Non-residential Parenting in The Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law. Vol 27 No.l p 1-16 O’Brien, M. Shemilt, I. (2003) Working Fathers: Earning and Caring, EOC Research Discussion Series, Equal Opportunities Commission, Manchester. OPSI (1989) The Children Act 1989 (c.41) http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/actsl989/Ukpga19890041 en 3.htm Samuel, M. (2006) Special Report on Family Resolution Schemes http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2006/03/10/53165/special-report-on-family-resolution-schemes.html Sarler, C (1991) Act of kindness for the children: Childrens Act in The Sunday Times. London, 13 October 1991 Wall, J (2005) Enforcement of Contact Orders in Family Law. Vol 35 p 26-32 Sobolewski, J. and King, V. (2005) The Importance of the Coparental Relationship for Non-resident Fathers ties to Children in The Journal of Marriage and Family. Vol 67 p 1196-1212

Essay --

Toni Morrison's â€Å"The Bluest Eye† set in post-WWI, Lorain, Ohio, narrates the lives surrounding Pecola Breedlove, a young black girl who wishes to be beautiful. Influenced greatly by her relationship with her mother, Pauline, Pecola adapts to a world of unworthiness and unattainable expectations beauty. Their mother/daughter relationship is just one of many examples throughout the novel further pinpoint its related themes of self worth and ugliness, both physically and mentally. An analysis of the relationship between Pauline and Pecola Breedloves—their contributions and conflicts—is used to highlight the theme of which the author is trying to express. A relationship, such as one between a mother and daughter, should be the last thing to be described as hateful, disconnected, or troubled—only in the case of Pauline and Pecola Breedlove, it was just that. The two were as distant as could be achieved while living under the same roof, â€Å"adults do not talk to us—they give us directions. They issue orders without providing information† (10). Pecola was merely a maid in her own house, expected to preform the daily chores whilst her mother was at work. The distance was a creation of Pauline's, even long before the birth of her children. Several unfortunate events in Pauline's life lead her to immerse herself in a fictitious world where she strove to be part of the most beautiful race around—white. Pauline frequently visited picture shows that portrayed only white actors and actresses (not uncommon for the 1930's). â€Å"White men taking such good care of they woman, and they all dressed up in big clean h ouses with the bathtubs right in the same room with the toilet. Them pictures gave me a lot of pleasure, but it made coming home hard, and lo... ...y allowed her to believe that she was finally beautiful. In summation, the relationship between Pauline and Pecola Breedlove in Toni Morrison's â€Å"The Bluest Eye† is filled with angst, hate, and disapproval. As one of the most prominent relationships in the novel, it is simple to determine the influence Pauline had over Pecola. Pecola's mental downfall, caused by her mother's constant neglect, highlights the theme of nature of beauty. It is this subjective beauty that the novel focuses on. Pecola Breedlove's constant alienation and ridicule from the people around her slowly broke her down further. Her lack of Pauline as a mother figure and the reflection of her mother's own self-hatred, spirals Pecola into insanity. From Toni Morrison, it can be gathered that beauty, mentally and physically, is carefully critiqued in the world and is the basis for judgment of others.

The Breakfast Club :: essays research papers

The Breakfast Club Five teenagers who don't' know each other spend a Saturday in detention at the suburban school library. At first they squirm, fret and pick on each other. Then after sampling some marijuana, a real encounter session gets underway. The stresses and strains of adolescence have turned their inner lives into a minefield of disappointment, anger and despair. The catalyst of the group is Bender (Judd Nelson), a rebellious working-class punk who seethes with rage and attacks his peers with sarcasm. A cigar burn on his arm is a sign of the abuse he receives at home. Andrew (Emilio Estevez) is a Varsity letterman in wrestling. He's spent most of his youth trying to measure up to his father's machismo image of him. This entails winning in athletic competition and preying upon weaker peers. He and Bender clash. Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) is an unhappy honors student who wishes he could be accepted as a person and not valued just as a brain. Upset over a poor grade in shop, Brian has contemplated suicide rather than live with the ire of his disappointed parents. Allison (Ally Sheedy) is the eccentric of the group. "My home life is unsatisfactory," she confides. Living in her own fantasy world, Allison can't really tell the difference between the truth and the lies she fabricates. These teenagers don't like or respect their parents very much. One asks: "My God, are we gonna be like our parents?" Another in the group replies: "When you grow up, your heart dies." But the storm clouds over their lives are really the result of rigid high school caste systems. Despite an inappropriate music-video sequence and a phony up-tempo finale, The Breakfast Club offers a breakthrough portrait of the pain and misunderstanding which result from the social hierarchy created by youth themselves. The lookers and the jocks are popular and can do whatever they want — except relate to those outside their social circle of winners.

Schneck vs United States :: essays research papers

Schenck vs. United States- 1919 HOLLIES, J. This is an indictment in three counts. The first charges a conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act of June 15, 1917 . . . by causing and attempting to cause insubordination, &c., in the military and naval forces of the United States, and to obstruct the recruiting and enlistment service of the United States, when the United States was at war with the German Empire, to wit, that the defendants willfully conspired to have printed and circulated to men who had been called and accepted for military service under the Act of May 18, 1917, a document set forth and alleged to be calculated to cause such insubordination and obstruction. The count alleges overt acts in pursuance of the conspiracy, ending in the distribution of the document set forth. . . . They set up the First Amendment to the Constitution forbidding Congress to make any law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, and bringing the case here on that ground have argued some other points also of which w e must dispose. It is argued that the evidence, if admissible, was not sufficient to prove that the defendant Schenck was concerned in sending the documents. According to the testimony Schenck said he was general secretary of the Socialist party and had charge of the Socialist headquarters from which the documents were sent. He identified a book found there as the minutes of the Executive Committee of the party The book showed a resolution of August 13, 1917, that 15,000 leaflets should be printed on the other side of one of them in use, to be mailed to men who had passed exemption boards, and for distribution. Schenck personally attended to the printing. On August 20 the general secretary's report said, "Obtained new leaflets from printer and started work addressing envelopes" &c.; and there was a resolve that Comrade Schenck be allowed $125 for sending leaflets through the mail. He said that he had about fifteen or sixteen thousand printed. There were files of the circular in questio n in the inner office which he said were printed on the other side of the one sided circular and were there for distribu|tion. Other copies were proved to have been sent through the mails to drafted men. With; out going into confirmatory details that were l proved, no reasonable man could doubt that the defendant Schenck was largely instrumental in sending the circulars about.

Some Like It Hot

You must complete BOTH parts of this section. Format: – Each part must be written under the separate headings. – Present each of your observations as a bullet point. Each bullet point should identify your observation, indicate how and why this technique is used, and note the significance of this technique. – Note that you only have appear. 0 words per bullet point, since all ten bullet points are limited to 500 words, so you must be concise. – Each part has a series of terms/concepts which are there to help you think about the points you want to make.You do not have to discuss each of these terms; they are provided as a guideline. – You must write about the SAME film that you choose for your close reading in Section II. A) Sound (5 marks, or 1/3 of 1 5%) Using bullet points, identify five (5) key elements of the way that sound, music, dialogue and/or silence are used in the sequence, and provide concise examples. If relevant, you may also consider f ilm elements that stand in for sound, such as silent film titles.Possible elements you may (but do not have to) consider in your five observations: dietetic and non-dietetic sound synchronous and asynchronous sound music dialogue silence sound-image relations effect of soundtrack on characterization, etc. Onscreen and officered sound Using bullet points, identify five (5) key elements of editing in the sequence and briefly note the significance of the way each is used. Order of shots duration of shots shot transitions (I. E. , type of cut) nonentity editing or breaks in continuity rhythm and pace of the edit editing principles effects of cuts, etc.Short Essay (500 words) Putting It All Together (5 marks, or 1/3 of 1 5%) Write a short essay, with a brief introductory and concluding statement, that interprets your selected sequence in relation to the film's narration and thematic concerns. Taking into consideration soundtrack and editing, discuss how this sequence elaborates the narra tive meaning and main themes of the film as a whole. You should focus your points on the selected sequence, but strive to make injections to other parts of the film when/as relevant.You may draw on your technical observations from Section I to support your points here, but do not simply repeat your bullet points from the earlier section. Possible questions to consider (this is a guideline only, to help with brainstorming): What tools of narration are used? How does editing function as a tool of narration in this sequence? How does soundtrack support and affect the narration? What is the function of the sequence in the overall narrative structure of the film? Hint: You MUST watch the clip provided several times to do well on this assignment.To have a clear understanding of what your chosen film clip is about and how it fits within the narrative context, you will need to watch the whole film. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA the criteria below. What we're looking for in Section l: accurate technic al understanding insightful analysis (that is, how well you interpret the significance of the techniques rather than Just describing them) good choice of examples (from the clip) substance with succinctness (appear. 50 words per bullet point) What we're looking for in Section II: analysis of how technical elements (e. G. Ration, editing, sound) work in combination with one another engagement with film theme(s) as supported by technical observations coherent essay structure focused on insightful, key points clarity of prose and correct English usage

Bangladeshi Film Industry Essay

Dhallywood, which is a nickname commonly used for film industry in Bangladesh, has had quite an advantage since 1971 as far as facing competition is concerned, but is most probably about to lose it for good. When it was separated from Pakistan, they established a law to protect their film production by excluding and prohibiting Indian films. But this non-competitive situation led to a disastrous state of the industry. They did not innovate nor care about and use new technologies and had fallen into the state of disregard. As a result of lesser films produced every year (ten years ago it was about 100, nowadays it is only sixty and the prognosis are that it will drop even lower), many halls and cinemas have been closed and/or transformed into stores. On one hand film-makers strongly disagree with cancelling the prohibition of Indian films, but on the other hand there are the owners of cinemas who would welcome and appretiate the opportunity to broadcast other films as that would boast their income. General impression is that the current state of film-making industry here is not viable and needs to be revamped. Which could happen by means of cooperating with foreign experts and this way learning and improving one ´s skills, as a Bangladeshi director, Ms Hossain, suggests. All in all, it seems that Bangladeshi original films will not be able to satisfy the demand which is in these days quite extensive and aimed at good-quality products and thus be forced to accept the competition very soon.