The family narratives of three siblings living in a ‘street situation’ since birth

ABSTRACT

The spontaneous narratives of three brothers, ages 5, 8, and 11, in response to a structured story stem task were analysed for representations of positive and negative family interactions. The children had lived their entire lives with no permanent home, and often on the streets, in the care of their mother. The story stem task presented brief scenarios of parent and family conflict and a child's need for comfort. Analyses revealed children's understanding of basic family role structures; yet, their narratives were also characterized by emotional detachment, limited parental engagement, and self-centredness. Implications for young children's coping with great adversity are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Street children
• story stem
• narratives
• family representations

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their gratitude to the children who participated in this study and to the non-governmental organizations that opened their doors to make the study possible, in particular: Os Seareiros – Núcleo Mãe Maria; Projeto ‘Quero-Quero’; Lar da Criança Feliz, Lar Caminho da Verdade, CMPCA; PETI – Programa de Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil; Centro Promocional Tia Ileide – CTPI; Casa Guadalupana; Aldeias Infantis SOS Brasil; Secretaria Municipal da Assistencia Social da Comarca de Ribeirao Preto; The Centre for the Study on Street Children (Cep-Rua/Instituto de Psicologia) from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. They thank Bob Emde, MD, for supporting this study and Michael Günter, MD, for helping to make this research possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Maria Leticia Castrechini Fernandes Franieck, PhD in Natural Sciences, at the Faculty of Information and Cognitive Science, University of Tübingen; studied psychology at the University of São Paulo. She carried out studies into cultural issues and on Brazilian street children. Her clinical practice is focused on the work with very at risk populations, such as forensic patients with personality disorders and traumatized refugees. Dr. Castrechini Fernandes Franieck is a registered Counselling Psychologist with the Health & Care Professions Council in the UK; she is a Chartered Member with the British Psychological Society (BPS), and an Associate Member of the German Society for Supervision e.V. She is the author of ‘On Latency: individual development, narcissistic impulse reminiscence and cultural ideal’; and ‘Communicating with and Outsider’ (to be published in 2018), Karnac Books, London.

Timothy Page is the Betty J. Stewart Professor of Social Work Practice with Children and Director of the Ph.D. Program at Louisiana State University School of Social Work, Baton Rouge. His received his Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the University Wisconsin-Madison. His primary research and scholarly activities are in the areas of attachment-based narrative assessments with children and an attachment-based parenting intervention for high-risk families, the Circle of Security.

ORCID

Maria Leticia Castrechini Fernandes Franieck http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1160-6158

Notes

1 Monster in the Bedroom was originally published in Other/Wise: The Online Journal of the International Forum for Psychoanalytic Education, 3(Winter Issue), 201, located at WordPress: https://ifpe.wordpress.com/volume-3-winter-2014/

2 In Brazilian culture, a stranger is referred to as ‘aunt’ if female and ‘uncle’ if male.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the International Psychoanalytical Association [grant numbers 1403873, 2009 and 825, 2013]; Baden-Württembergisches Brasilien – Zentrum - Eberhard Karl Universität Tübingen; and Deutsche Forschung sgemeinschaft [grant number AOBJ: 570625, 2009].