Abstract

FUKUDA, Cláudia Cristina; PENSO, Maria Aparecida  and  SANTOS, Benedito Rodrigues dos. Social and familiar setting of children who have gone through multiple shelter placements. Arq. bras. psicol. [online]. 2013, vol.65, n.1, pp. 70-87. ISSN 1809-5267.

This article presents the social and-familiar profile of children and adolescents who have gone through multiple shelter placements in Brasilia, DF, from Jan./2007 to Aug./ 2009. The research methodology was a quantitative one that analyzes the data gathered from the "special files" processed by the State Prosecutor for Childhood and Youth. The results showed that children-adolescents, who were predominantly male, had an average of three placements in shelters; had first been placed under 11 years old; came from families in which more than one sibling had also been placed as well. Most of them were victims of abuse, neglected or homelessness, who were living under the legal custody of mothers since there was often no contact between the state and the parents. The mothers showed social vulnerability. The length of the placement violates the principles of brevity and exceptionality of this protective measure and that demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the social policies for protecting and providing assistance to families living in contexts of social vulnerability.

Keywords : Shelter placements; Social vulnerability; Social politics; Shelter child.

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