Resumen

MENEZES, Karla Luna de  y  DIAS, Cristina Maria de Souza Brito. Donor mothers: motives and feelings underlying donation. Rev. Mal-Estar Subj. [online]. 2011, vol.11, n.3, pp. 935-965. ISSN 1518-6148.

This paper aims the understanding of motivations and feelings that underlie the discourse of mothers who donates a child, as well as the repercussions of this act in her life. Participated in this research six women aged between 22 and 40 years, with low education and socioeconomic levels, who have donated, at least, two children. They were interviewed and answered questions about their social demographic data and about the issues of this research. Their economic and emotional poverty conditions that permeate their lives were verified. These conditions restrained them from achieving an emotionally balanced development that would have enabled them to act as mothers. The motivations that led to donate the children are related to their immaturity, together with the lack of family support and the of the children's father, as well as social-economic difficulties. Moreover, it was also found feelings of sadness, regret and guilt derived from the donation act, together with the fact that, in rational terms, they think they did the best decision regarding to their children. With regard to the repercussions of the donation in their life, it was found that even having glimpsed a resumption of life after the act, all showed emotional and physical inscriptions related to it. In conclusion, the motivation for children donation is a contextualized and individual decision, depending on social factors, but mostly on intra-psychic ones. This is, undoubtly, a complex issue, requiring, therefore, the observation of the peculiarities of each case and the factors underlying them.

Palabras clave : Motherhood; maternal love; mother-child relationship; donor mothers; donation.

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