Newborn Adoption: Birth Mothers, Genetic Fathers, and Reproductive Autonomy

Overwhelmingly, Canadian-born children relinquished for newborn adoption have been born to unmarried mothers. Under provincial adoption acts, in cases of illegitimacy only the mother\u27s consent was necessary for a child to be eligible for adoption. Since adoption statutes were introduced, however, the distinctions between those born within and outside of marriage have been eliminated at law. Provincial legislation now recognizes a wide range of unmarried men as fathers, lists circumstances under which paternity will be presumed and provides for the use of genetic testing. But this raises significant questions in the context of newborn adoption. Whose consent is required to relinquish a child? In this paper it is argued that the unfettered right to release a newborn child for third party adoption is an essential component of women\u27s reproductive autonomy. It is also essential to women\u27s dignity and equality rights, and to the right to liberty and security of the person. To illustrate this argument, consent provisions are contextualized by explicating the disrespect for unmarried birth mothers that has been central to adoption regimes. This is contrasted with the expanding rights of non-marital fathers under Charter litigation. With regard to newborn adoption, Charter reasoning has delivered equality with a vengeance. Relinquishment should be considered an issue of reproductive freedom, not a question of custody. Interference in the birth mother\u27s decision-making process violates her section 15 right to equality; the on-going poverty and discrimination faced by single mothers are erased when the genetic claims of men are considered to give them equal standing with mothers in adoption cases. Moreover, women\u27s section 7 rights to liberty and security of the person are vitiated when men can interfere with adoption placement, forcing women to abort or to retain custody themselves

Identity Politics and Global Citizenship in Elite Athletics: Comparing Caster Semenya and Oscar Pistorius

At the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, Team South Africa filed behind its respective flag-bearers, track-and-field stars Caster Semenya and Oscar Pistorius. While both athletes were mired in controversy at various points in their careers, each athlete's selection as South Africa's official flag bearer reaffirmed to the team, and indicated to the international spectator community, that each of the athletes had proven themselves "ideal" to represent the nation of South Africa on the world stage.The act of naming an athlete to be a country's official flag bearer is one of many instances at mega sporting events like the Olympics and World Championships where the notion of global citizenship is at play. In the context of globalization and the Olympic games, where competition between nations is extended into the arena of sport, Olympians are heralded as the ultimate global citizens, representing both the competitive individual and the competitive state. Bridging fields of globalization, citizenship, and sporting events, the Olympic Games are a mega-event upon which highly politicized notions of race, class, sex, gender, and geographical location intersect (see Toohey 2007).How is citizenship publically negotiated, learned, regulated, and performed through the mega-event of the Olympic Games? In this comparative feminist media analysis of the cases of Caster Semenya and Oscar Pistorius, we map the ways in which categories of identity, including race, gender, and class, are mobilized in discussion of these athletes as more-or-less deserving Olympic athlete-citizens

Guide to Cataloging DVD and Blu-ray Discs Using AACR2r and MARC 21 2008 Update

This guide is intended as an update to the 2002 Guide to Cataloging DVDs UsingAACR2r Chapters 7 and 9 created by the DVD Cataloging Task Force of OLAC. The update incorporates rule changes and interpretations that resulted from the 2004 Amendments for Chapters 7 and 9 of Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2) and expands the discussion of formats to include Blu-ray Discs, DualDiscs, and DVD-Audio Discs. The information and cataloging examples presented should help clarify principles and rules used in cataloging DVD formats and digital video disc formats. There is also information to help the cataloging process for the Blu-ray Discs and DVD-Audio, newer formats that libraries will begin and continue to purchase as producers market and develop them for consumer use

An Overview of Research and Evaluation Designs for Dissemination and Implementation

The wide variety of dissemination and implementation designs now being used to evaluate and improve health systems and outcomes warrants review of the scope, features, and limitations of these designs