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ABSTRACTSince the mid‐1990s, China has become one of the major countries from which children are adopted overseas. This paper examines ways in which globalization has contributed to the development of international adoption from China and explores cultural and historical attitudes to population growth, child abandonment and adoption. How China's social, economic and welfare policies have affected adoption policies and practices are discussed, with reference to ethnographic fieldwork undertaken by the authors between 2001 and 2007. Interviews and group discussions were conducted with UK, Chinese and American adoptive parents, directors of social welfare institutes, Chinese welfare officials and staff of non‐government organizations working in the area of adoption and fostering in China. While globalization has affected, and continues to affect inter‐country adoption, its influence in China is analysed using Masson's value positions on international adoption – abolitionists, promoters and pragmatists. China's pragmatic approach to international adoption is considered in relation to policies that reflect the best interests of children in China and overseas.

AbstractBackgroundEmerging evidence indicates effectiveness of dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) for people with intellectual disabilities (PWID) in forensic settings; however, little is known about "what works" facilitating engagement and change.MethodsEleven interviews were conducted with nine service users across two secure inpatient services. Grounded theory was used to develop a model of perceived engagement and change.ResultsThe model provides insights into how change occurs during DBT delivered in forensic settings. DBT constitutes a challenging journey, yet provides the motivation and means to address individual's intra‐/interpersonal aggression and progress towards release. Participants experienced engaging with DBT as difficult and coercive, moving from compliance and avoidance to acceptance and change. Key factors included participants' motivation, beliefs about safety and ability to change, and interactions with staff.ConclusionRecommendations are made for increasing intrinsic motivation, reducing perceived coercion and distress, and for future research to address potential aversive elements and enhance effectiveness.

The Managers of Australasian Herbarium Collections (MAHC) have been working with the Plant Import Operations Branch of the Australian government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR) to align our procedures to significantly reduce the risk of herbarium specimens being destroyed when being imported into Australia. The two groups worked together productively to bring about change and to enable the resumption of the international movement of herbarium specimens after two recent international disasters. These changes include amendments to the Biosecurity Import Conditions System (BICON) which contains the Australian government's import conditions and onshore outcomes for herbarium specimens, changes to procedures at the border (airmail gateway facilities) where biosecurity documentation is assessed and parcels released, and updates to existing herbarium parcel labels, guidelines and supplier declaration templates. We will discuss lessons learned, as well as implications for researchers, collections managers or institutions who may be sending herbarium specimen material to Australia. This is a presentation on beahlf of the Managers of Australasian Herbarium Collections (MAHC), a network of herbarium Collection Managers in Australia and New Zealand.

The Managers of Australasian Herbarium Collections (MAHC) have been working with the Plant Import Operations Branch of the Australian government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR) to align our procedures to significantly reduce the risk of herbarium specimens being destroyed when being imported into Australia. The two groups worked together productively to bring about change and to enable the resumption of the international movement of herbarium specimens after two recent international disasters. These changes include amendments to the Biosecurity Import Conditions System (BICON) which contains the Australian government's import conditions and onshore outcomes for herbarium specimens, changes to procedures at the border (airmail gateway facilities) where biosecurity documentation is assessed and parcels released, and updates to existing herbarium parcel labels, guidelines and supplier declaration templates. We will discuss lessons learned, as well as implications for researchers, collections managers or institutions who may be sending herbarium specimen material to Australia. This is a presentation on beahlf of the Managers of Australasian Herbarium Collections (MAHC), a network of herbarium Collection Managers in Australia and New Zealand.

Abstract  Some people with intellectual disabilities (ID) continue to be provided with accommodations that are outside their local area, away from familiar people and places. Although studies have been scarce on this topic, there is evidence to suggest that this does not always provide the best outcome for individuals in terms of quality of life. The authors undertook a survey to look at the personal characteristics of 89 persons with ID originally from the city of Coventry in the UK, and now situated by local health or social services authorities in locations other than the immediate Coventry area. The authors found that the number of people being placed "out‐of‐area" is increasing; among them are persons with autistic spectrum disorder (particularly those transitioning into adulthood), those with a past history of behavior resulting in action by the criminal justice system, and those with a history of aggression toward others. There are concerns that the commissioning and provision of "out‐of‐area" services echo the dehumanizing institutionalization policies that dominated the first part of the 20th century, are lacking in coordination, and are proving to be more expensive than locally provided services.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to communicate the findings of an empirical research project based on a real world problem that involved the development of a continuous professional development (CPD) framework for a children's integrated service workforce. In addition, to give attention to the notion that children's integrated services have not necessarily been viewed from the perspective of conflict management and that this has meant ensuing conflicts that characterise such organisations are more often than not ignored.Design/methodology/approachA case study approach involving a mixed methodology consisting of semi-structured interviews for senior managers and service leads; a quantitative survey for frontline practitioners and focus groups for service users, carers and children.FindingsRather than the service being fully integrated, services were aligned, and this was reflected in the conflict between professional cultures, reinforcing an "us and them" culture. This culture had seemingly permeated all aspects of the organisation including the senior management team. It was also noted that certain systems and processes, as well as bureaucracy, within the service were seen as hindering integrated working and was in effect a catalyst for conflict.Research limitations/implicationsWhat has become evident during the course of this empirical study is the need to further explore the functioning of children's integrated services using conflict management theories, tools and techniques so as to understand how best to manage conflict to an optimum where an environment of creativity and productiveness is created.Practical implicationsTherefore, when devising a CPD framework it can be argued that there is a need to address some of the types of conflict at the micro-frontline practitioner level of the organisation, as it is this level where there is opportunity through a variety of mechanisms, for example formal and non-formal learning, ring-fenced time, attendance at conferences, team away days and shadowing opportunities can be used to achieve a greater understanding of professional roles, improve working relationships and engage in the division of tasks in a fashion that will promote collaborative working.Social implicationsThe extent to which a children's integrated service can be the harbinger of a range of multi-faceted conflicts that include the jarring of professional cultures, task conflict, inter-personal incompatibilities and competing value bases cannot be underestimated. Therefore, when devising a CPD framework it can be argued that there is a need to address some of the types of conflict at the micro-frontline practitioner level of the organisation.Originality/valueThrough the application of conflict management theory it will be illustrated how conflict could be used to effectively steer children integrated services towards creativity and productivity through an organisational wide framework that not only embraces dissonance, but also promotes a learning environment that takes advantage of such dissonance to incorporate a hybrid of professional practice and expertise.

Managers of Australasian Herbarium Collections (MAHC) is a sub-committee of the Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria (CHAH) and provides advice and recommendations pertaining to the management of herbarium collections. It was formed in 2009 based initially on Australian herbaria, and later incorporated New Zealand herbaria. MAHC currently has 18 member institutions representing both government funded, and university based herbaria, and includes both the largest (National Herbarium of Victoria - MEL) and smallest collections (Macquarie University - MQU) in the region. The group meets in person annually, and holds regular conference phone calls throughout the year. MAHC has proved itself to be a very cohesive committee, despite time, sizing, staffing, and funding differences. It prides itself in being inclusive, cooperative, collegiate, collaborative and supportive. It has a strong mentor approach toward early career collections managers or those new to collections management. The group has a healthy forward planning outlook, developing, promoting and implementing collections management policy, recommendations, guidelines and standards. This cohesion has resulted in a toolkit of resources that are freely available and strives for a unified world class best practice herbarium curation. Some of these universally agreed tools include templates, biosecurity documents, disaster mitigation and preparation for Nagoya Protocol implementation for Australia and New Zealand. MAHC supports new international initiatives and manages the day to day running of programmes such as the Global Plants Initiative project imaging all vascular type specimens housed in Australasia. MAHC collaborates with CHAH and the data sub-committee, HISCOM (Herbarium Information Systems Committee), for continued improvements in sharing digital data and specimens via the Australasian Virtual Herbarium (AVH https://avh.chah.org.au/) and Atlas of Living Australia (ALA https://www.ala.org.au/) services. This talk will use examples to highlight the effectiveness and success of a unified group in: developing standard practice in curation, incorporating improved curation procedures, and its ability to be agile, responding to incidents at an international level.