O abrigo, a criança e a família: caminhos da reinserção familiar

Abstract

The social and familiar aspects related to the removal of children from their homes and, in some cases, the family life, put on the scene the situation of vulnerability in which are found many Brazilian families. In this scenario we have the institutional reception of children in shelters and the mechanisms that operate directly in the process of family reintegration. On this, our research object is the perspective of technical professionals that have been or are monitoring sheltered children and their families in the process of reintegration. We have the following research question: What family reality is unveiled throughout a process of reintegration of sheltered children in their families and how do the institution’s technical professional experience this process? To answer it, we have raised as main goal: i) analyze the track of family reintegration considering the context of the institution and of the sheltered child’s family of origin, in the perspective of technical professionals that operate this modality of reception. And, as specifics: ii) map the types of intervention/receptions targeted to the sheltered child’s family made by the shelter’s technical professionals, discussing the elements that interfere on reintegration; iii) identify the context’s conditions (house and family’s structure) to a successful reintegration, in the perspective of the shelter’s technical professionals; iv) analyze the relation of the shelter’s technical professionals with the child’s family and other systems that are part of the social and legal assistance to child protection network, facing the possibility of reintegration in family of origin; and v) analyze the meaning of institutional reception of children and family reintegration to shelter’s technical professionals. This is a qualitative research, with the design of a multiple case study (Yin, 2003; 2005; 2015). Half structured interviews were carried out with six professionals that operate or have operated as technicians in institutional childcare service, in the city of Salvador- BA. The data analysis was based on the construction of categories based on the bio-ecological model of Bronfenbrenner (1979/1996). The following were used as theoretical contributions: Bioecological Theory of Human Development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979/1996, 1989, 1993, 1998, 2004, 2011; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998) and the Family Systemic Structural Theory (Minuchin, 1966/1990; Minuchin, P., Colapinto & Minuchin, 1999; 2011; Minuchin & Fishman, 2003), with the purpose of substantiating the analysis and understanding of the data. Thus, we conclude that the institutional reception of children composes a complex territory and the data obtained allowed us to access this reality through the perspective, coming from a professional trajectory, that sometimes was intertwined and confused with the trajectory of life.