Crianças, infâncias e ONG´s: concepções presentes nas organizações não governamentais

Abstract

This paper investigated the conceptions of children and childhood in the documents of two Brazilian Non-Governmental Organizations that carry out actions aimed at children and adolescents in situations of social and economic vulnerability. The theoretical framework was based on the New Social Studies of Childhood, which understands the child as a subject of rights and childhood as a structural category of society. The research also starts from the observation that, many times, children are not considered a priority and their childhood is invisible. The methodological path involved document analysis, from the survey and selection of documents that guide and regulate the principles and institutional actions of NGOs. The analysis of the documents revealed several different conceptions of children and childhood that coexist in society and that are defined in their relations with the family, the school, and other institutions that direct their actions towards them. These conceptions were also identified in legal and pedagogical norms, and in the child-oriented actions of the institutions investigated. As a conclusion, the study identifies the influence of the legal frameworks in the conceptions of children and childhoods, shows that the social condition affects childhoods, points out the presence of strategic actions aimed at revealing the child and his/her protagonism, and suggests a reflection on the adult-centric culture that, many times, places children in an inferior condition, in the face of power relations, and even in a condition of vulnerability that, on the other hand, can adultize and impose responsibilities, denying their childhoods. Thus, the results translate the importance of the studies, debates, and deepening on children, in order to reflect the important role of children and the understandings that lead to the understanding of their different childhoods.