The shelter is interim measure of protection for children and adolescents that lives with a risk situation in your families. Beyond the protection function, another function from the shelter's institutions is ensure for preservation of the family bonds and reintegration of the child to the family. However, the reasons leading the children to the institutionalization, among which the family violence, negligence, abandonment by parents and poverty economic and social, difficults the return of the children to their families becoming a challenge for the preventive work. Interested in understanding of this subject, this research had general objectives: delineate psychological and adaptive aspects of mothers with children living in shelters, and specifics objectives: 1) investigate the adaptive functioning of mothers from children sheltered; 2) investigate the self-image and self-concept of these mothers and e 3) identify factors psychological and adaptative of mothers who were associated with institutionalization of the children. Seven mothers participated from this study, whose children are aged between 0 to 10 years and 11 months and were in shelter and received regular visits from them. The instruments used were: a) preventive interview; b) Operational Adaptive Diagnostic Scale (EDAO); c) Human Figure Drawing Test. The results showed ineffective adaptation serious in three mothers, ineffective adaptation severe in three mothers and ineffective adaptation moderate in a mother. On the evaluating of adequacy from the sectors, affective-relational sectors, productivity and socio-cultural proved to be the most committed. The data collected on the interviews has revealed an excessive idealization mainly in search of partners, repetition and transgenerational transmission of violence and abandonment experienced on their own childhood and the depletion of the maternal role with failure protection function and care for children. In the human figure drawing has predominant self-concept and self-image overwhelmingly negative with feelings of insecurity, inadequacy and inferiority. It was found that psychological factors and adaptive, as evidenced, were strongly associated with institutionalization of children.