RUBIO, N. A. Adolescentes em acolhimento institucional: no trânsito da maioridade, a reedição do desamparo [Adolescents in institutional shelter: in the transition to adulthood, the reissue of helplessness]. Master’s Dissertation. Inst. Psic. USP. 2019.
Available on: Adolescentes em acolhimento institucional: no trânsito da maioridade, a reedição… (usp.br)
This research arose from the harrowing experience of following, as a Psychologist in an Institutional Shelter, the compulsory dismissal of adolescents reaching adulthood from the institution. Although the shelter is of an exceptional and provisional nature, when family reintegration or replacement is not possible, the time in institution is prolonged and the adolescent’s departure is imminent at the age of 18, even without proper preparation. In this scenario, in order to contribute to the assistance and possibilities of intervention with these young people, the general objective of this study is to understand the process of formation of expectations of who will be dismissed from their institutional shelter, when achieving adulthood. In the context of a Qualitative Research, referred to a psychoanalytical framework, semi-structured interviews were conducted and the Thematic Drawing-and-Story Procedure applied with two adolescents, aged 16 and 17 years old, sheltered at the country side of São Paulo, Brazil, about the issue of their leaving. It was observed 1) difficulty of these young people to associate and fantasize about their life after the shelter; 2) in the absence of this associative capacity, prevalence of idealizations which were little articulated with their real conditions and not subjectively appropriated; 3) the tendency to repeat, in the transference, during data collection, a surveillance relationship, which suggests qualitative aspects of the relationships lived in the shelter. Given the results obtained, some reflections are raised, from the Winnicottian theory, about the importance of the shelter as an environment that allows for the integration, personalization and maturity of children and adolescents. Furthermore, it is proposed that bounds with adults outside the shelter may help build more realistic life projects. The relationship with people, groups and institutions outside the shelter can play a significant role in mitigating the risks of leaving the shelter as a new traumatic disruption thus helping the experience to move towards what Winnicott calls a transitional experience.