My mother is a drug user

Children and adolescents as actors of kinship and parenting in institutional care

Authors

  • Fernanda Bittencourt Ribeiro Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)

Abstract

This article is situated on an anthropological field that study how children occupy the position of son or daughter, according to the particularities of their families. An ethnographic research was carried out between 2016 and 2019 at an institution that shelters children and teenagers in the metropolitan area of Porto Alegre (Brazil). Through documentary research and participant observation, the study focus on situations of families with crack users mothers. The results shows the active participation of children and teenagers siblings in the development of their kinship and parenting relationships. Among the main findings are: the siblings’ refusal to separate; children’s concern about their mothers; and the indication of acquaintances with whom they could live temporarily. In addition to the affirmation of the importance of consanguinity in the definition of kinship, the findings also broaden its concept, conceiving parenting in an open way.

KEYWORDS: Crack user mothers. Children and teenagers. Kinship and parenting. Institutional care.

IMAGE: Clothesline of the passage house, Fernanda Bittencourt Ribeiro

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Author Biography

Fernanda Bittencourt Ribeiro, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)

Doctor in Social Anthropology, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

Published

2023-04-27