A Experiência de Morar em Abrigos

This article presents data from a study that examined the narratives of three youngsters who lived in a public shelter from 1992 to 2001. Through the narratives, the practices that constituted the special protection in shelters during that period and the ways in which the youngsters experienced the passage through shelters and their conditions of subjectivation were analyzed. The data were discussed in light of the work of Michel Foucault. It can be concluded that in the shelter there were antagonistic and divergent policies in the assistance to that population. The transition between the Code of the Minor and the Statute of Children and Adolescents presents signs of a fragmented public policy, with difficulties of articulation both in the process of entry and in the process of exit of these youngsters in the shelter. The marks of institutionalization and the transient nature are present in their lives and create difficulties in completing and maintaining activities, in building stories which are different from those prescribed in the experiences of the dwellers.