Pobreza e o Exercício da Maternidade:

Notas Sobre a Abordagem Consensual e a Abordagem “Processual” em Processos de Destituição do Poder Familiar.

Abstract

This article is the result of my participation as a researcher in an initiative of Cardiff University and the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) for the study of poverty in the Brazilian context, having as a pilot initiative, the application of focus groups in the city of Campinas (SP) and my experience as a researcher of termination of parental rights  (DPF) actions in the state of São Paulo. In the context of the pilot research carried out, a focus group (FG) was conducted with women in situations of severe vulnerability, then hosted in the same service, aimed at pregnant women, women who had recently given birth or with their young children. One of the results of this FG showed that there is a constant contestation, on the part of the public power, of the capacity to exercise custody and parental power in relation to their children, which is considered, by them, as one of the risks experienced by poor children, that of growing up without their families of origin. Together with this material, I present one of the cases analyzed in the context of my doctorate in Human Rights in which the magistrate decides for the DPF of a 17-year-old girl and in a case in which he uses the description of the lack of utensils to receive the child as one of the reasons for the DPF. Through these cases, I reflect, based on the theoretical and methodological framework of the consensus approach to poverty, on how the elements that define "poverty", in different contexts, can lead to complex and irrevocable decisions, such as the definitive separation between mothers and children.  This article is based on empirical material obtained in the context of the study of poverty in the Brazilian context with the application of focus groups in the city of Campinas (SP) and my experience as a researcher of Termination of parental rights (DPF) actions in the state of São Paulo. In the context of the pilot research carried out, a focus group (FG) was conducted with women in situations of severe vulnerability, then hosted in the same service, aimed at pregnant women, women who had recently given birth or with their young children. One of the results of this FG showed that there is a constant contestation, on the part of the public power, of the capacity to exercise custody and parental power in relation to their children, which is considered, by them, as one of the risks experienced by poor children, that of growing up without their families of origin. Together with this material, I present one of the cases analyzed in the context of my doctorate in Human Rights in which the magistrate decides for the DPF of a 17 year old girl and in a case in which he uses the description of the lack of utensils to receive the child as one of the reasons for the DPF. Through these cases, I reflect on the basis of the theoretical and methodological framework of the consensus approach to poverty, on how the elements that define "poverty" in different contexts can lead to complex and irrevocable decisions, such as the definitive separation of mothers and children.