Critical analysis of residential care interventions in Chile

Abstract

The objective of this research is to understand how intervention practices with children and their fa-milies are organized in residential care homes. In-depth interviews were conducted with implemen-ting partners, designers and specialists and discourse analysis was applied. The results evidence he-terogeneous interventions and indicate that direct work with children is organized in a continuum. Subjectivizing practices, enable agency, identity and psychic support. Desubjectivizing practices con-tribute to processes of objectification and uprooting. Family interventions vary depending on the approach of each institution. It is concluded that teams can improve the quality of their work if other institutional conditions are generated and the agency capacity of children and their families is re-cognized, with care being a task that also involves the State and communities.