THE CHALLENGES OF GUARANTEEING THE RIGHT TO FAMILY AND COMMUNITY COEXISTENCE FOR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN FOSTER CARE AND WITH MULTIPLE VULNERABILITIES
Abstract
Brazil has a long history of placing children and adolescents in foster care institutions, away from their families of origin. However, with changes in child and adolescent concepts and in social assistance policies, promoted mainly by the 1988 Constitution of the Republic, the Statute of Children and Adolescents, the National Social Assistance Policy and the National Plan for Family and Community Coexistence, it became a priority to promote foster care compatible with the right to family and community coexistence – which led to the regulation of family care and the creation of Host Family Services (SFA). With Law n. 12,010/2009, family care was included in the Statute as a protective and preferential measure. However, the culture of institutionalizing children and adolescents still prevails, since in June 2024, there were approximately 32,000 children being cared for in institutions, compared to only 1,967 in family care (5.8%) (Brazil, CNJ, 2024). Thus, using the critical dialectical method, supported by descriptive, bibliographical and documentary research, especially data from the National Council of Justice, the SUAS Census and a national diagnosis carried out by the National Secretariat of Social Assistance in partnership with the Coalition for Foster Care in Family Care, the aim is to present the contradictions between legislative advances and the implementation and execution of SFAs in Brazilian municipalities, the adversities that hinder their operationalization and the challenges to increase the number of children being cared for, improve the quality of care and guarantee the right to family and community life for children and adolescents removed from their families and with multiple vulnerabilities.
