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

Abstract

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.