oa Het evidence-beest en de normativiteit van opvoeding

The Evidence ‘Beast’ and the Normativity of Child-Rearing

In 2008 Micha de Winter warned people to watch out for, what he coined, ‘the Evidence Beast’, referring to a too narrow focus within the Dutch youth care system on evidence and effectivity. This concern was also the main instigator for my PhD research conducted under his (and Prof. Koops’) supervision. In this article I address some of the ‘beasts’ of a strict evidence-based focus within the professional field of youth care. Some of these problems are related to the ways in which EBP is used in the Dutch youth care system (a strict focus on effectivity, a lack of professional reflection and a lack of professionals’ discretionary power). The most important and most Dewinterian issue however is the implicit normativity in child rearing in contrast to the rather technical, and presumed neutral, child rearing approach in youth care interventions. I conclude the article with several suggestions for the future, in order to give more room to important value-laden elements in the support that is offered to parents through youth care interventions.