Mothers who give their children for adoption: social worker's interventions and challenges portrayed in a comparative study at CAISM/UNICAMP

Abstract

With the National Adoption Law 12.010/09, important changes on the services to pregnant women occur, providing specialized care, including to those ones who give their children for adoption, in order to provide a safe choice, avoiding the illegal adoptions, the abandonment and even, the child trafficking. This work purpose was to analyze the social-economical and cultural profile of twelve mothers who gave their children between 2010 and 2014 at CAISM/UNICAMP and compare them with 58 donations occurred in 1986 and 1990 in the same institution. The methodology consisted of a document analysis, performed at the Social Service's archives. The information obtained in the current research revealed that women who gave their children for adoption, listed as reasons the sexual violence and absence of family support; in the previous research, the main reasons were the economic situation, the lack of family and child's father's support. In both studies, the prevailing age group of women was between 20 and 29 years old. Other information observed in both researches is that most women were single and their income did not exceed three minimum wages. Like the previous survey, the expectation of women who gave their child was protection and guarantee of a better future. The information suggest that more debate spaces are necessary, including the responsible parenthood and the gender violence, in order to demystify and clarify the rights and reality of the woman who give her child for adoption.