‘She does not make me do it, but I want to help her’: Relational family interdependence of street-connected youth in Recife, Brazil

Despite most street-connected youth in Brazil having existing bonds with their families, their family relations have not received enough attention in research. This article explores how street-connected youth describe their family relations and what meanings they attach to their families. Drawing on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inChildhood (Copenhagen, Denmark) Vol. 30; no. 4; pp. 380 - 396
Main Author Lehtonen, Annika
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.11.2023
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Ambivalence
Ethnography
Families & family life
Family relations
Interdependence
Street youth
Youth
Brazil
Family
interdependence
street-connected youth
ethnography
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Summary:Despite most street-connected youth in Brazil having existing bonds with their families, their family relations have not received enough attention in research. This article explores how street-connected youth describe their family relations and what meanings they attach to their families. Drawing on ethnographic data collected with 10 street-connected youths aged between 12 and 17 in Recife, Brazil, the results demonstrate that the relational family life of street-connected youth consists of interconnected supportive and ambivalent emotional and material interdependence, and this should not be ignored in policy and practice regarding them.
ISSN:0907-5682
1461-7013
DOI:10.1177/09075682231200792