The educative practice of professional caregivers at shelters: coping with violence lived by female adolescents

Violência vivenciada pelas adolescentes acolhidas em instituição de abrigamento

“…In addition, one must consider the working conditions of the referred professionals: the lack of internal and external human and material resources (support network), the reduced or lack of a democratic and collective management environment, the immobilizing norms and routines of the institution, the aggressiveness and arbitrariness of the youths, the lack of preparation to deal with these adolescents and their cruel realities, eventually create an environment that is propitious to hostility, one in which the staff feels disrespected, devalued, frustrated and powerless, thus compromising the quality of the care they provide. 9,24 Consistent with the findings, the negligence of the shelter staff is reported by the adolescents mainly as a lack of attention to their needs/demands. They refer to their need of professional listening, care, education and work -all of which are rights legitimated by the Children's and Adolescents' Statute, which should be granted by the shelter.…”

“…A previous study shows the effort of the shelter caregivers in developing educational interventions aiming at coping with violence, while also identifying some situations of a traditional education that attempts to fit the adolescent within the ruling standards from an authoritarian view of correcting any deviation. 9 Care must be taken so that the shelter does not become, for the adolescents, another context with conditions that can affect their development and establish a trajectory that propitiates violent behaviors. Thus, it is desired that the professionals at the shelter (as well as those from other services involved) engage in dialogues with the adolescents to provide the conditions for them to become the central subjects of their lives by other means rather than violence.…”

“…A study about the understanding that the shelter staff have regarding the [violence experienced by the sheltered adolescents revealed that gender violence is seen as a critical and concerning issue, as they verified the marking reproduction of the naturalized subjection of girls to boys within the shelter units, that is, without the girls perceiving they were suffering violence. 9 Therefore, we understand there are specificities regarding the violence experienced by adolescents living in shelters, particularly due to the gender asymmetry and being institutionalized (away from family living), which makes these conditions relevant in face of the government's recommendations about the care for adolescents exposed to violence, as well as their right to family living. [10][11] Considering that these youths may have a different view regarding the meaning of violence and the effect it has on their lives, in this study, we aimed at understanding violence from the perspective of female adolescents living in shelters.…”

Perfil sociodemográfico da adolescente em situação de rua: análise das condições socioculturais [Socio-demographic profile of female adolescents in a street situation: analysis of sociocultural conditions]

“…Por outro lado, há dificuldade da própria jovem em se adaptar às normas institucionais 5 , que tenta enquadrar os jovens num padrão ideal de bom comportamento. Apesar do esforço para um cuidado dialógico, ainda há muitas barreiras para superar o abandono e estabelecer uma assistência de qualidade que promova o acolhimento e suporte psicoafetivo de que necessitam as jovens 4,[22][23][24]30 .…”

Institutional shelter to protect adolescent victims of domestic violence: theory or practice?

“…In a study that aimed to identify strategies discussed and utilized by professional caregivers in shelters, in situations of violence experienced by adolescents, they reported that they often faced a "lonely fight", because they felt that the family demonstrated the omission of the protective role for the children and adolescents, but they understood that both these actors and their families needed to be inserted into intersectoral support networks (20) .…”