Crianças em situação de abrigamento que possuem vínculos familiares: busca de significados

Abstract

The general objective of this research was: analyze the meanings given by children under shelter with family ties and as specific objectives: knowing the path taken by these children until they got under shelter through charts and interviews with the staff; research how the children under shelter realize the family environment being secluded temporarily from it and investigate the impact of sheltering in the lives of these children. The methodology was of a qualitative nature. The data collection began with information subsidized in rapport with the children. The instruments used were the Drawing the Family Test, Duss fables and charts or follow up folders existent in the institution. In order do complement the data obtained from the charts, we interviewed professionals from the staff of the sheltering institution. Six children, boys and girls between seven and nine years of age, participated in the research. Among the reasons for sheltering one can find: abandoning of the home by the mother, neglect and motherhood administration. In the Draw the Family Test, all presented the following aspects: difficulty in drawing their own family, aggression noticed by the elimination of characters, they reflected instability and fragility in the drawings (clearly, we must consider the circumstances of development of the children); five presented difficult of inserting themselves in the drawing; three did not represent the parents; two added other relatives, indicating the need of affection or too much dwelling with them, the adding of symbols; one did not represent the mother and another one added a member of the institution. In Duss s fables the most frequent answers, two children, the same that demonstrated aggression and hostility in face of the first scenery as well as the Complex of Edipo having the same storyline as their real lives. Therefore, the data pointed to a meaning of family ambivalence and no cohesion, highlighting the fragility in their dynamic. As to the sheltering, the majority (five) the children related that they had a positive meaning towards their lives, stated that they liked being in the institution, although this feeling didn t drive them to rejecting their families