Child welfare tool loses key features when exported across borders
A Scottish child assessment framework successfully adapted to Sweden, but researchers found critical elements were quietly dropped or relocated during the transfer. The study reveals how policy tools change in unpredictable ways when moved between countries—a warning for governments scaling wellbeing programs internationally.
Originaltitel: Reinventing the wheel?: Children’s wellbeing in the journey along the GIRFEC stream
<p>The Wellbeing Wheel is a tool used for early detection, assessment, and planning around children. This study examines how this artefact has been translated from Scotland to Sweden and what that process involved in relation to transformation from the original ideas when travelling from one specific context to another. The analysis was based on three graphic wheels and their supporting documentation, interviews, and field notes. The results reveal great similarity in the overall ‘spirit’ of the work performed to introduce the Wellbeing Wheel to the Swedish context, but on several points significant differences can also be noted, with some content being removed or relocated, and new content being added. These changes were conscious and intentional in some instances, while others arose spontaneously and ad hoc during the development processes.</p>