Relações cotidianas e familiares de "meninas de rua" em Belém

Abstract

This study, part of the research "Comparative Studies of Families in the Amazon", aims to give visibility to the life trajectories of the girls and their families, in order to look in more detail at which factors (besides the economic one) that ultimately make life on the streets possible. Based on observations and interviews, we can notice, for example, the frequency of common situations among the four families investigated: migration from rural areas with traditional farming activities; recurrence of cases of donation of children for domestic work at the homes of relatives or third parties; sexual experience and maternity experienced during adolescence; sexual relationships aimed at financial support; low level of schooling, situations that have occurred since generations before those of the girls; absence of professional training; subsistence coming from the informal market; family income of half to one minimum wage. These life stories point us to the distances between these family units and those of the modern ideal, showing themselves, then, as a particular form of worldview, of thinking about the present and the future (D'Incao 1996).