PONCE, L. G. Um olhar winnicottiano sobre o imaginário coletivo das mães sociais acerca do cuidado infantil na situação de abrigamento [A Winnicott look on the collective imaginary of Social Mothers about child care in a sheltering situation]. 2013. 139 p. Master’s Dissertation – PUC/SP. São Paulo (SP). 2013.
Available at: https://sapientia.pucsp.br/bitstream/handle/15322/1/Larissa%20Garcia%20Ponce.pdf
Abstract: In Brazil, the protection of children and adolescents was confirmed with the promulgation of a “Children and Adolescents Statute”, in 1990. Established by Law number 8.069, this statute provides absolute priority in fulfilling the rights of children and adolescents as Brazilian citizens. When the family bonds, for issues of violence and other rights violations, break or find themselves weakened, exposing the child or adolescent to risks or death threat, the subject of vulnerability must be submitted to a host institution. To shelter these individuals, the social Mother figure was instituted in Brazil by Law number 7.644, from December 18th, 1987, with the purpose to devote themselves to assisting the homeless children, exercising the role in a social level, within the system of “Casa-Lares” (House-Home). This study proposal was to capture the collective imaginary of Social Mothers, from a “House-Home” in west São Paulo state, named W, in order to understand how to think and communicate the experience of motherhood offered to the sheltered. The study sought to conduct a psychoanalytic investigation, using the “Thematic-Drawing-and-Story Procedure”, played individually, and a “Group Therapeutic Interview” to the “Approach of Collective Personhood”, accomplished together. Through the numerous associations found in these “drawing-stories”, interactive narratives were developed, guided by the assumptions of psychoanalysis, emphasizing Winnicott’s contributions. It was intended to seize the unconscious psychological fields presented in these graphic and written speeches on the themes “children raised by parents” and “children raised by a Social Mother”, and then observe and discuss the possible reflections on conceptions and beliefs addressed in discourses and practices of these caregivers in their daily work. The interview, conducted right after, constituted a communication period between the researcher and the researched, that allowed participants to get in touch with individual matters, raised by the use of D-E (T), with the due care and psychological support to develop these contents. From the interpretation of the material emerged the imaginary fields that address the following subjects: the configuration and operation of the traditional family and the traditional contemporary family; the description of the assumptions of good enough care and the features considered essential for the good enough Social Mother; the need to play the role of an adoptive mother; the beliefs that the institutionalized child and her biological family are problematic and inadequate, against natural and/or biological families, that are synonymous with happy families; idealizations: of the functions and feelings that a Social Mother shall submit, of the lack of negative professional aspects, of the work as a social mother not being a mere job but a mission, and finally, of the clues that reveal the ambivalence of the woman-mother for having to work and leave their own children. In the end, highlighted the importance of the selection, preparation and careful training of caregivers, so that they can understand the psychodynamics, needs and peculiarities of each individual sheltered. It also pointed out the importance of promoting a place of welcome, listening and psychological support to the care professionals in order to provide conditions for dealing with any eventual feelings and problematic aspects related to this function.