Relações Inter-Raciais no Serviço de Acolhimento em Família Acolhedora do Distrito Federal

Abstract

The foster family care is a public policy aimed at providing temporary shelter for children and adolescents who have been removed from their families due to a serious threat or violation of rights. It is a service executed within the framework of the Unified Social Assistance System (Sistema Único de Assistência Social - SUAS), involving families that are selected and trained by a technical team to provide care for children and adolescents under protective measures. The research analyzed the interracial relations that permeate the foster family care in the Federal District, investigating how the foster families, with the technical team support, deal with doubts and conflicts that may arise due to racial differences between family members and the fostered child or adolescent. The research process included a literature review on child and adolescent foster care, racism, and the construction of black identity, and data collection was conducted at Aconchego, the institution responsible for the execution of the foster family care in the Federal District. The research at Aconchegp involved gathering racial profile data of the children and adolescents in foster care and the foster families through heteroidentification committees, as well as conducting semi-structured interviews with service participants and analyzing workflow processes. The data collected were analyzed using a qualitative approach, and the interview transcripts were examined based on Bardin's Content Analysis methodology (2002). As a result, it was found that 60% of the children in foster care were negro, 36% of whom were black, while only 31% of the caregivers of the foster families were negro, 12% of whom were black. The technical team at Aconchego was also mostly white. This result confirms the historical asymmetries between white and black people in Brazil, demonstrating that in foster care services, black people also occupy positions of greater vulnerability, while white people remain in positions of privilege, even when playing a role of care and protection. In the interviews with the foster families, a general lack of resources and knowledge was observed to deal with situations of racism experienced by the children, as well as to assist them in their process of constructing their racial identity. On the other hand, in the interviews conducted with the technical team, a good level of critical racial literacy was observed.