Abstract
This article investigates the children’s perceptions about their institutional sheltering experiences. Six children from a shelter for children in the region of Belém/Brazil took part in this study. In order to collect the data, it used a form for the categorization of the children, semi-structured in-terviews, and children’s stories. The data collected from the form were tabled to create a general view of the life history of the children and relate them to perceptions learned in the activities with the tales. The interviews were fully transcribed for the content analysis from which were extracted the themes: Reason for sheltering; Reference figures; and Interactions with their families. The main results demonstrate that the children disregard the reason they were sent to the institution; the educators were pointed out as emotional support figures for the children, also situations referring to their experiences in the family context emerge by the reference made to the family and feelings caused by the separation. Therefore, it was possible to discuss, through the children’s perception, some questions related to the roles, activities, and interpersonal relationships established in the welcoming environment, as well as some aspects related to the family.
Highlights
The custom of welcoming children in sheltering institutions in Brazil has enabled the emergence of an institutionalization culture that is grounded as forms of assistance to the “minor”
Even though there is a major distance between what is stated by the law, the judiciary discourse, the Brazilian reality, and the current socio-professional practices, ECA (Brasil, 1990) recommends changes regarding the institutional sheltering services, in an attempt to rupture with the practices of confinement, exclusion, and control so far in practice
Regarding the period of sheltering it is noted that the children are less than two years in the institution, respecting the maximum period of two years that a child should stay in the institution proposed by the Law 12.010 (Brasil, 2009)
Summary
The custom of welcoming children in sheltering institutions in Brazil has enabled the emergence of an institutionalization culture that is grounded as forms of assistance to the “minor”. The way to place children in institutions settled in the past was characterized by the segregation of the social environment, confinement, time con-. Perceptions of Children in Institutional Sheltering: Interpersonal Relationships and Roles Played. Even though there is a major distance between what is stated by the law, the judiciary discourse, the Brazilian reality, and the current socio-professional practices, ECA (Brasil, 1990) recommends changes regarding the institutional sheltering services, in an attempt to rupture with the practices of confinement, exclusion, and control so far in practice
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