The Secretariat for Social Assistance (SNAS) of the Ministry of Social Development and Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger – MDS (which during 2019-2022 was designated Ministry of Citizenship – MC), by means of an inter-federative SUAS management structure. Funding is co-participatory between the three levels of government: municipal, state and federal.

Referrals are made by the Specialized Social Protection Reference Units together with SGD (mainly guardianship councils and courts of children and youth), and under the care of Foster Families: families willing to receive children and adolescents on a temporary basis, until a more permanent housing and care option is available. 

These families are screened and registered by Specialized Social Protection Reference Units together with SGD (mainly guardianship councils and child and youth courts).

The Service was instituted and regulated from the Brazilian Typification of Social Assistance Services, published on November 11, 2009 and reissued in 2014^1,2.

Currently in operation.

It is mainly a foster (housing) care service, with a component of Service of Community Living and Strengthening of Bonds (SCFV).

N/A

Children and adolescents (0 to 18 years) – including those with disabilities, to whom the Judiciary Branch applies a protection measure, due to abandonment or violation of their rights, whose families or guardians are temporarily unable to fulfill their care and protective function.

There are also minimum criteria for selecting registered families to receive children and young people, such as³:
 

• Be of legal age;

• Not in the process of qualification or qualified in the Brazilian Adoption System, according to Art.34 § 3 of the Statute for the Child and Adolescent (ECA);

• Agreement from all family members residing in the household;

• Reside in the municipality or region;

• Have no criminal record, psychiatric impairment and/or dependence on psychoactive substances (rule for all family members residing in the household);

• Be available to participate in the initial training process;

• Have time to attend the activities scheduled by SFA and for the

systematic monitoring of the technical team;

• Meet the commitments necessary for providing care for the child and/or adolescent (school pick up and drop off, visits to the doctor and other professionals, extracurricular activities, school meetings, among others);

• Commitment to the protection service until the child and/or adolescent is referred to their family of origin and/or extended family or foster family.

In addition to these minimum objective criteria, families undergo reflective analysis to assess their ability to meet more subjective criteria, such as:

• Affective and emotional availability;

• Family relationship;

• Understanding of the role of a person providing support and clarity regarding the situation of the fostered child;

• Sufficient emotional conditions and resources to deal with separations;

• Broad family and community relationships;

• Family routine;

• Motivation consistent with the role;

• Expectations consistent with family care and the profile of children and adolescents served by the modality;

• Respect for social, belief, racial, sexual, gender differences, among others;

• Aptitude for care, educational capacity and openness to develop new skills and competencies;

• Flexibility and proactivity;

• Empathetic listening and non-violent communication skills;

• Emotional stability;

• Respect and appreciation of the history, identity and relationship of the child and/or adolescent with their family of origin;

• Respect for the rules and laws that guide SFA;

• Openness to request help and collaborate with the technical team.

Children and adolescents are appointed by decision of the Judiciary Branch, and Foster Families are previously registered by joint analysis of the guardianship council and Specialized Social Protection Reference Units. The analysis for registering eligible families includes verifying documents to ensure they meet the minimum criteria. (of a more objective nature), while the more subjective aspects are worked on with the families through reflective analysis that includes individual interviews, observation of family dynamics, and collective training. At the end of this process, the families themselves should self-assess their ability to take on the responsibilities required by the service⁴.

According to the SUAS 2022 Foster Family Census, in August 2022 there were According to the SUAS 2022 Foster Family Census, in August 2022 there were 543 registered Foster Families, taking in a total of 1961 children and adolescents.

According to the SUAS Foster Family Census, foster families receive an average of R$ 1,101 per child/adolescent fostered.

The service basically consists of foster care with proper social assistance until the conditions for the return of the child or adolescent to their family are restored, or a more permanent housing and care option is defined.

Social assistance monitoring may vary according to the specific analysis of the social assistance teams in each case, and should be guided to ensure that the children received have the following rights:

• Be fostered in a unique way;

• Have their situation of separation, disruption, and rights violations addressed;

• Have their identity, integrity and life history preserved;

• Have access to a welcoming and healthy environment;

• Have access to a space that meets quality standards for hygiene, habitability, health, safety, comfort, personal care, rest, and proper nutrition;

• Have access to an environment and conditions favorable to the child and adolescent development process;

• Have ensured family, community and social coexistence;

• Have access to sectoral public policy services, according to their needs;

• Have a sense of action based on respect for oneself and others, founded on ethical principles of justice and citizenship;

• Obtain civil documentation;

• Work on life projects and achieve autonomy;

• Have family bonds established and/or preserved, in the impossibility, to be integrated into a substitute family;

• Be informed about rights and responsibilities;

• Express their opinions and needs;

• Increase their family's protective capacity and overcome their difficulties;
• Be ready to transition out of the service.

The benefit includes foster care by an accredited family and psychosocial support within the same environment.

SUAS funding is shared by the three levels of government (Federal Government, states and municipalities). Resources are allocated in blocks and minimums, which have some flexibility to finance the various SUAS initiatives (see Policy Brief on SUAS financing). The table below illustrates the budget executions (co-financing) of the Federal Government for discretionary actions of the Secretariat for Social Assistance/ Social Assistance Fund (SNAS/FNAS) between 2002 and 2022 (in real values corrected to December 31, 2022). These values encompass the entire universe of services, programs, costing of management activities and investment of SUAS, so they do not refer only to SFA costs.

Federal budget executions with discretionary actions of SNAS/ FNAS between 2002 and 2022 (in real values adjusted for December 31, 2022)[i]

A quasi-experimental academic study points out that the implementation of SUAS generated expansion and improvement in the provision of services, as well as improvement of administrative capacity at the municipal level, even controlling for more specific political factors⁵. 

However, we did not identify robust studies on the impacts of SFA in a more specific way.

The entire initiative is specifically aimed at serving children who, at least temporarily, are unable to live with their respective families of origin. In addition to the offer of shelter and care by the Foster Family, there is also psychosocial monitoring.

In addition to SUAS´ general orientation to empower girls and women through its different services, including, therefore, PwD, there are no specific aspects aimed at this audience.

According to the SUAS Foster Family Census of August 2021, however, this service receives mostly girls (52% of the total).

Guidelines and references for other networks such as education, health and basic social protection, of medium and high complexity, in addition to interaction with SGD.

The specific adaptations of SFA varied greatly in each context, given the flexibility of state and municipal teams to adapt according to the specific needs of each context. However, there was a set of more structuring actions with an effect on SUAS in general, such as:

• Several municipal teams developed voluntary joint efforts to support the application for Emergency Aid (AE, acronym in Portuguese) via application, although SUAS was not directly involved in AE.

• The Federal Government maintained the IGD-Aid payments even with the temporary suspension of SUAS responsibilities in support of the program (and the PBF program itself) in 2020 and much of 2021.

• The Federal Government generated instructional material with service protocols considering the challenge of avoiding agglomeration.

• Through Ordinance MC No. 369, of April 29, 2020, the Federal Government distributed R$ 2.4 billion to SUAS as extraordinary credit distributed as follows among the municipalities with the highest prevalence of elderly, PwD, migrants and homeless people:

  • R$ 9.1 million was transferred to the interiorization of Venezuelan migrants and refugees;

  • R$ 158.1 million were allocated to the purchase of PPE for SUAS professionals working on the front line, serving, for example, sheltered elderly, homeless people and victims of rights violations;

  • R$ 185.6 million were transferred to the purchase of food from the elderly and people with disabilities served in the SUAS network;

  • R$ 577.7 million for the co-financing of social assistance actions, according to the needs of each location considering the pandemic.

• Through Ordinances MC No. 378, of May 7, 2020, and MC No. 468, of August 13, 2020, R$ 1.5 billion were also transferred to: (a) the reorganization of activities in SUAS units; (b) the purchase of other items necessary to deal with the emergency; or (c) the expansion of social assistance offers during the pandemic. Of these:

  • R$ 1 billion was specifically intended to reinforce basic social protection actions;

  • R$ 437.2 million were specifically intended to reinforce Specialized Social Protection actions^6,7,8.

In addition to the transfer of funds, several technical guidance notes on work in the context of the pandemic were released by the MDS.

1. GoB, Min. Desenvolvimento Social. 2009. Tipificação Nacional de Serviços Socioassistenciais - Texto da RESOLUÇÃO No. 109, DE 11 DE NOVEMBRO DE  2009. https://www.prattein.com.br/home/images/stories/PDFs/Tipificacao_AS.pdf.

2. GoB, Min. Desenvolvimento Social. 2014. Tipificação Nacional de Serviços Socioassistenciais. https://central.to.gov.br/download/231761

3. GoB, Min. Cidadania. 2021. Caderno 4. Guia de Acolhimento Familiar. Mobilização, seleção e formação de famílias acolhedoras. https://familiaacolhedora.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/04_coalizao_mobilizacao_selecao_familias-WEB.pdf.

4.  GoB, Min. Cidadania. 2021. Caderno 4. Guia de Acolhimento Familiar. Mobilização, seleção e formação de famílias acolhedoras. https://familiaacolhedora.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/04_coalizao_mobilizacao_selecao_familias-WEB.pdf

5. Cavalcante, Pedro, e Beatriz Bernarde Ribeiro. 2012. “O Sistema Único de Assistência Social: resultados da implementação da política nos municípios brasileiros”. Rev. Adm. Pública 46 (dezembro). https://www.scielo.br/j/rap/a/bwPZgHkvMbPcWCcYcgKHtPb/?lang=pt#.

6. GoB, Min. Cidadania. 2022. “Atuação da Proteção Social Especial do SUAS durante a pandemia da COVID-19”. https://aplicacoes.mds.gov.br/sagi/pesquisas/documentos/relatorio/relatorio_226.pdf

7. GoB, IPEA. 2022. “Boletim de Políticas Sociais -  acompanhamento e análise N. 29, 2022.” https://portalantigo.ipea.gov.br/portal/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=39098&Itemid=9.

8. IPEA. 2021. “Boletim de Políticas Sociais: Acompanhamento e análise. Assistência Social”, Políticas Sociais: acompanhamento e análise, 27. http://dx.doi.org/10.38116/bps28/assistenciasocial.