Abstract
This study aimed to analyze foster care time and characteristics of adolescents in the institutional foster care services in the city of Recife. This is a descriptive study with a quantitative approach. The study population consisted of all adolescents under foster care in the city of Recife-PE, in the period 2009-2013. The information was retrieved by consulting the Individual Assistance Plans (IAP), with 1,300 analyzed plans. Variables were categorized and described from absolute and relative frequency. Pearson's chi-square test was used to verify the association between variables, with a significance level of 0.05. Three types of services were observed: for adolescents who are victims of violence and neglect; at-risk with/without drug use; and with special needs. A predominance of older male adolescents, with lower school attendance, greater use of psychotropic substances, involved with socio-educational measures, suffering death threats and with a higher number of service entries-exits was observed. We can conclude that the different profiles of foster care services should be addressed and investigated in a particular way because they show different difficulties related to the establishment of efficient public policies.
Highlights
Adolescent institutional foster care has attracted the attention of several researchers from different areas[1,2,3]
The information of study subjects was retrieved from the consultation to the Individual Assistance Plans (IAPs) filed in the foster care services and in some cases complemented with data obtained at the Entities’ Guidance and Inspection Center (NOFE)
Three foster care profiles were observed during visits to institutional shelters in the city of Recife, in which those who attended victims of violence and neglect generally had more children and adolescents victims of domestic and sexual violence; services for at-risk adolescents included more adolescent drug users with street life history; while the third type of special needs fostered mostly neglected adolescents with chronic health conditions
Summary
Adolescent institutional foster care has attracted the attention of several researchers from different areas[1,2,3]. Studies seek to understand this practice from its origin in Brazil to the effects that a period of institutionalization can cause on cognitive, emotional and social development in young people under foster care[3,4,5]. In Brazil, 7.9 million adolescents aged 12-17 years live in extremely poor households[9]. This fact contributes to fostering children and adolescents and their difficult reinsertion in their families of origin, since poverty is a relevant determinant to foster care[1,2,10,11]. Other foster care-inducive factors are domestic violence, alcoholism and drug use, mental illness of parents, lack of caregivers at home, among others, which influence increased levels of social vulnerability[1,12,13,14]
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