text: Prenatal development refers to the various stages through which a human embryo undergoes during pregnancy. Prenatal development stages usually start immediately after fertilization of the ova and ends at birth.During the zygotic or germinal stage, the zygote moves toward the uterus. This takes approximately one week. This stage is also characterized by extensive cell divisions in which the zygote divides itself into paired cells (Sigelman & Rider, 2010). Upon reaching the eighth cell, cell division temporarily stops and the cells become differentiated. Consequently, each cell acquires specific characteristics that will later on determine its type. The cells then multiply further and separate into two distinctive masses. At this stage, the outer cells become the placenta while the inner cells form the embryo. Cell division continues until the cells form a blastocyst. The blastocyst is made up of three major components, the ectoderm which develops into skin and nervous system, the endoderm which develops into digestive and respiratory system and the mesoderm which becomes the muscle and skeletal system.
  Embryonic Stage. After the zygotic stage, the masses of cells form embryo. The embryo is usually formed at the beginning of the third week (Hamilton, 2011). At this stage, the mass of cells develops into a distinct human being. The embryo further divides into three layers which form the body systems. Between the 22nd to 25th days of inception, the neural tubes begin to form. The neural tube later develops into the central nervous system that forms the spinal cord and the brain. In the fourth week, the head develops, followed by the eyes, nose, ears and mouth. The cardiovascular system also begins to appear and the heart is formed. On the fifth week, the arms and legs develop. According to Sigelman and Rider (2010), basic body organs and parts usually develops by the eight week, except the sex organs.
  Resilience in Infants. Infants usually become resilient after developing red bloods cells in the womb. However, the resilience increases rapidly after birth and it is facilitated by adequate breastfeeding. The colostrums are often cited as the best provider of resilience and protection to infections in children after birth.
  If your company gets background information on prospective employees, it’s likely you’re covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Before you get a background screening report, the law requires that you make certain disclosures and get a prospective employee’s authorization. Is it time for a FCRA compliance check?
  Background screening reports are “consumer reports” under the FCRA when they serve as a factor in determining a person’s eligibility for employment, housing, credit, insurance, or other purposes and they include information “bearing on a consumer’s credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living.”
  If your company uses background screening reports to make hiring decisions, here are some steps the FCRA requires you to take:
  Before you get a background screening report about a prospective employee, disclose to the person that you intend to get the report and then get their written authorization allowing you to do that.
  If the background screening report reveals something that may cause you to decide not to hire the person, you must notify them of the results of the report and provide them with a copy. Next, you have to give them sufficient time to review the report so they can challenge any elements that might be incorrect.
  If you ultimately decide not to hire someone based in whole or in part on the contents of a background screening report, you must provide a notice to that person that states they weren’t hired due at least in part to the result of the background screening report.
  Companies often ask how to make the required disclosure and get the prospective employee’s authorization. It’s easier than you might imagine. Under the FCRA, you must provide the prospective employee with a clear and conspicuous written disclosure that you plan to get a background screening report about them and you must get the person’s written authorization that gives you their permission to compile the report. It’s OK to put the required disclosure and your request for their authorization in one document. Just be sure to use clear wording that the prospective employee will understand.
  Some companies trip themselves up by using complicated legal jargon or adding extra acknowledgements or waivers. Here are some examples of the kind of things that shouldn’t be in this simple document:
  Don’t include language that claims to release you from liability for conducting, obtaining, or using the background screening report.
  Don’t include a certification by the prospective employee that all information in his or her job application is accurate.
  Delete any wording that purports to require the prospective employee to acknowledge that your hiring decisions are based on legitimate non-discriminatory reasons.
  Get rid of overly broad authorizations that permit the release of information that the FCRA doesn’t allow to be included in a background screening report – for example, bankruptcies that are more than 10 years old.
  That extra stuff not only makes it harder for the prospective employee to understand the main purpose of the document, but it also may violate the FCRA. Adding other acknowledgements or releases of liability is beyond the scope of what the FCRA permits in this document. If you have additional waivers, authorizations, or disclosures you want to give to prospective employees, do it in a separate document. Don’t include them in the FCRA disclosure and authorization document.
  It boils down to this: Complying with the FCRA’s disclosure requirement for the use of background screening reports is easy. You can do it in a few sentences. Just include a simple, easy-to-understand notification that you will obtain a background screening report, perhaps with a simple explanation of what information will be included in the report. The request for the prospective employee’s authorization should be in plain language, too.
  Source: Federal Trade Commission, From the Federal Trade Commission: Background checks on prospective employees: Keep required disclosures simple by David Lincicum.
  From all of us at Essential Screens to all of you, we wish you a safe and joyful holiday season and many more to come!