I selected to do the adoption for my bureaucracy project because I love kids. This was personal on a level because in the future I am actually considering adoption when I am ready to start a family. Basically the process for this project was simple finding the nuts and bolts of adoption but he hard part came in for the paperwork. Because you have to go through an actual agency to get any type of paper work for a child, we couldn't send any information out to be sent paper work. So that part would have been the most difficult about adoption because you need legal papers and really the process is all about giving families the run around. The adoptive process I think is as simple and complex as it needs to be. There needs to be a point of trust between these agencies and the potential adopters.  Other than doing this project alone after being confronted about not putting in much effort, I really just wanted to get this project done. I learned a lot from this project and it benefited me as well as others who may have been thinking about adoption.

My partner and I researched the long process of obtaining a license to sell liquor in the state of Pennsylvania. The first thing we found in our initial research was that liquor licenses are extremely specific. They are different for bars, restaurants, corner stores, etc. There are certain qualifications and papers you must fill out to distribute certain types of liquors. Purchasing a license alone has been know to cust up to 400,000$ in the state of Pennsylvania. There were about a dozen pieces of paper we had to fill out, and basically all of them asked for the same information. They were separate papers asking for the same information to be sent to different departments; it gets frustrating very fast. The process itself has many checks and balances to make sure that the people whom sell the liquor will be responsible, however the paperwork is still too much. The paperwork doesn't operate as part of the checks and balances system, it's just tedious repeated information. This could be a stretch, but I think the system became complicated after prohibition ended. Prior to prohibition everyone could sell alcohol which is why it used to be such a bigger problem then it is today. Prohibition ended, but regulation strengthened, thus we have the system we see in place today.

For our bureaucracy project, Kristina and I decided to research the process of obtaining a building permit for a house in Philadelphia. This flowchart outlines what you need to submit your application for a permit. Here's the link to the real version of the flowchart, which contains some links to websites with the paperwork.

http://www.lucidchart.com/documents/view/4d08c727-33f0-41dc-ab32-7f0f0afcbe04

We did our research by finding the application online, and then searching for the supplemental paperwork as we came across it. Also, we used this site as a guide:

http://www.100khouse.com/2008/12/04/how-to-build-a-house-in-philadelphia-building-permits/

The paperwork that we filled out for this was really complicated. We think this is because a lot of registered professionals are required, so we just didn't understand a lot of the language. It was also difficult because there are tons of different forms to fill out, and you have to figure out which ones are required for your individual building.

If i could change one thing about this bureaucratic process, it would be the availability of information. We had to go around in circles looking for this stuff because it's not outlined clearly anywhere on the city's website. I think that the city should have an easy-to-understand guide to make the building permit process more accesible to average people in Philadelphia.

I think that one reason this process has become so complicated is that there are more regulations than there were when the city was first formed. As regulations are added, more paperwork comes along with it so the organization of the process is a bit confusing.

Overall, I think that researching this process gave me a good glimpse of the inner workings of the city. I never realized it was so hard to just get permission to build something!

This project was to choose a bureaucratic system and create a flowchart about it. My partner was Kim Bush and we had two different topics, I predominately worked on the flow chart for Getting your Driver's License in PA while Kim worked on Registering a car in PA. 

Through personal experience, the bureaucratic system for getting your driver's license and dealing with the paperwork is very straight forward, however, getting to the Driver's License Center and dealing with the workers there is the difficult side of it.

Getting your driver's license begins with the process of getting your learner's permit, and making sure you are fit to drive. There are two forms needed to get your learner's permit, they are the DL-180 (Non-Commercial Learner's Permit Application) and if you are under the age of 18 you need the DL-180TD (Parent/Guardian Consent Form). 

After you receive your learner's permit, you have to test for your driver's license. If you are over the age of 18 you can take your driving test whenever you want after you pass the permit test. If you are under the age of 18 you must complete 50 hours and wait 6 months before you can test for your license, you must also bring the DL-180C (Parent/Guardian Certification Form). 

After you take your driver's test, you will have either passed or failed. If you failed your driver's test you will have to re-take that test, however, if you are under 18 you will not have to bring the form DL-180C with you again.

The paperwork for this bureaucratic system is very straightforward, and if you go to the Driver License Center website and it explains the entire process for you.

The process is quite easy, however, if I were to change something about the process, I would make it more difficult to begin the process of getting your learner's permit. In order to make it more difficult, I would suggest that the test is only available after you complete a driver's education course.

Although this process is not as complicated as some of the others, I feel as though they have become more complicated over the years because things have gone wrong within the systems. 

My partner, Marshall Johnston, and I decided to focus on the difficult process of obtaining a liquor license for a restaurant. This process is full of many instances where exceptions occur. There are many options that require people to have different forms depending on their personal preferences. There are options to be applying for a new establishment to use a liquor license or to keep the establishment that the liquor license is already permitted to be used for. It is necessary to buy an already exsisting license from a buisness willing to sell it. This is because the amount of available licenses depend on the population in Pennsylvania. Also, a license can't be sold to anyone outside of the specific county because that is how it's organized according to population. After a license to be sold is found, the buyer can apply for it and bargain a price for what it will be sold. Along with this there are fees for not only the license but the application fees also.

The forms to be filled out aren't simple at all. They ask for a few means of "background checks", like a "criminal report check" and a "tax certification statement". They also ask for every aspect that will be associated with the selling of the liquor such as the areas that will occupy liquor and the amount of space of each of these room. They ask for the information of the employees that will be responsible for the liquor and how long they've been a citizen

I would change the amount of unnecessary paperwork or make it more straight forward. There are many different variables that make it necessary to have different types of paperwork which is one thing that makes it unbearably confusing. I think it's this confusing because of the fact that everyone wants to be able to sell liquor and there are many more restaurants in Philadelphia alone than there are liquor licenses here. 

I thought it was interesting to investigate this process because I often see places around where I live obtaining liquor licenses and wonder why they didn't get one when they first opened. Now I know why and understand why liquor stores aren't open on Sundays. This is because there's a separate license to sell liquor on Sundays.

The bureaucratic task we selected was to have a block party on a street and how to obtain a permit to block the street for a party. The process wasn't quite as complicated as some of the others that were selected by classmates of mine. However, there were a number of steps that were not so straightforward. My partner, Evan Cohen, and I filled out the paperwork. It was significantly shorter than the paperwork for most other processes, but one part of it requires many many signatures from neighbors. It was straightforward, but quite a pain to actually complete it. If I had to change one thing it would definitely be something with the signatures, but I mean I understand why that part is necessary. I think this system is so complicated because it affects so many people. To have a party outside on a residential street affects a lot of people. So it's not too surprising as to why it is complicated.

For our bureaucratic task, we chose to apply for Welfare. Getting Welfare benefits is for families who how have no house income or low income where they are given food stamps, health insurance or regular cash. The process to apply for welfare is not difficult but there is an excessive amount of paperwork. The paper work was straightforward, however filling out the income and rent was quite difficult. The reason the system is complicated is because people are taking advantage of the benefits and there is an increasing of fraud. However, the government does not have any money due to the recession, so they have to be careful with where they spend it. 

By Alex McGrorty and Matt O'Toole

The bureaucratic task my partner and I chose was the process of filing a Restraining Order, or a Protection from Abuse Order.

The process is fairly straightforward, if somewhat tedious. Basically, to file one of these orders, a person has to go to their local county Court of Common Pleas. Upon arriving there and finding the area where a restraining order can be made, there will be several court forms to fill out, such as the Application for Relief from Abuse, the Affidavit for Relief from Abuse and the Request for Nondisclosure of Location. These each respectively give different aspects of the problem.

The Application for Relief from Abuse is a form where the plaintiff (the victim or person filing the order) writes their basic personal information, such as name, address and contact information.

The Affidavit for Relief from Abuse is a form where the plaintiff details what happened to them or what abuse they suffered to make them file the order.

The Request for Nondisclosure of Location is a form the plaintiff will fill out to keep their location classified, so that their abuser cannot access the information. The victim’s location and contact information will have to be on file in this process, and the file is able to accessed by the public, therefore this document is a safety measure to keep the defendant from being able to access it themselves.

These documents should be given to a court clerk, who will present the case to a judge. There will be a hearing regarding the issue, and if the judge decides the case to be legitimate, they can have the order served. However, this will be temporary and only last until the secondary hearing, which will take place after 14 days.

After the 14 day (2 week) period of deliberation, the plaintiff will be summoned to another hearing, where the judge will determine whether the order needs to last another 180 days.  Any evidence or witnesses should be present during this hearing (there is additional documents and forms to be filled out if there is a witness involved).

If the order is given, the plaintiff must have it served by a State Marshall. The State Marshall will deliver the order to the offender (abuser) and order them to obey the limitations of the order. All involved should obey the restraining order, if there is any unlawful contact between parties, the police should be involved immediately.

If there was one thing we could change, I suppose it would be to lessen the 14-day waiting period. Or possibly eliminate the secondary hearing entirely. While I understand this is a period of deliberation by the court officials, if a person is in serious danger and felt threatened enough to file a restraining/protection from abuse order in the first place, then they should be helped immediately and not have to wait so long.

We believe systems have become more complicated because times have changed. We still use archaic bureaucratic methods, even in the face of modern technology and changing times. We possess the technology that could make the process simpler and more straightforward to meet modern needs. 

Flowchart View Link: http://www.lucidchart.com/documents/view/4d08cde6-8c50-4085-a6b3-1e830af90ae1

 PDF Download Link: http://www.lucidchart.com/publicSegments/view/4d0a2ba5-3d7c-4a7a-8e2f-66ee0afcbe04

    What Emma and I did was research all of the steps involved to enlisting in the Marines. The Marines are apart of the Military and we wanted to research the process of enlisting because it interested us. Emma and I knew someone who recently went through the process of enlisting to the Marines, so we used this to our advantage. We kept in contact with this person frequently so we were able to make a document with all of the steps to enlisting. We then talked to this person regarding paper work. She said that she would try and get the paper work from her recruiter. Since this was not possible, we used the steps we found out to create two flowcharts. One was with all of the steps involved in enlisting the marines, including what you would need to do if you failed certain parts. The second one was all the requirements for boot camp. 

    Since we didn't have our own recruiter we weren't able to get the paper work. This didn't affect getting the steps for our flowchart. If I had to change one thing about the bureaucratic process in the flowchart I would have changed needing a recruiter to fill out the paper work. I think that it should be possible for someone considering enlisting in the Marines to be able to look at the paper work beforehand, instead of getting a recruiter first. I think the system has become so complicated because enlisting in the Marines is a serious thing, and not all people probably take it seriously. They want people who know what they are doing, or can learn what they are doing so it's important to have all these steps in order to accept the people who could have a future in the Marines. I enjoyed this project and thought that it was a great learning experience.  

First flowchart:

(Steps to enlisting)

Second flow chart:

(Boot camp requirements)

• Amira Young and myself chose to do our bureaucratic project based off completing the proper paper work to file for a divorce. Our process was very overweleming and helped us to realize that filing for a divorce was extremely difficult and time consuming. The process for filing for a divorce was interesting being as though we learned that most of the process and proper steps we needed to enact was for the good of both parties and any children intertwined. The paper work was the most easiest part maybe because we're just playing but its was hard because i never understood why this process entitled that much effort. Doing the project helped and unlocked answers based on this task. The process of entirely needed because it prevents problems between two parties who might be sore towards each other. Process is the way it is only because its built off of progress and actually works.