The logic of the database : in search of responsive social work

Over the last decades, youth care has been subjected to many reforms. Also in Flanders -the Dutch speaking part of Belgium- a reform is currently taking place. A new policy framework, named Integrated Youth Care (IYC), integrates different youth care sectors in order to install a more coordinated instead of fragmented youth care system. The Flemish government invested in more and better information and registration tools in order to achieve this reform. Policy papers point out that these tools will serve as instruments for reflection since they will be able to capture the needs of children, the case trajectories of all clients, the balance between supply and demand as well as the effectiveness of youth care organizations. It is the contention of this doctoral research to question this underling logic of reflection in relation to the use of information and registration tools. Especially because the use of these tools as an instrument for reflection does not remain uncontested. For example, research shows the emergence of decontextualisation, a process by which children are disconnected from their social and relational context (e.g. Aas, 2004; Parton, 2008). Consequently, the client’s situation is split into a series of data, which tend to break up the holistic view (Aas, 2004) and which results in a social work based on the logic of the database (Parton, 2008). The aim of the research is to denude the logics behind the installation of these tools at three levels: the governmental, organisational and frontline level. Moreover, the research aims to discuss the installation and use of these tools in relation to the realisation of the right for care and support as well as to the development of responsive social work.