“I know motherhood is a right, but let’s think about the child?”: State agents at the crossroads of protection networks facing maternity experiences of homeless women

Abstract Homeless mothers challenge professional and institutional practices, highlighting gaps between what protection networks offer and these women’s needs. Inspired by the ideas of ‘crossings’ by Guimarães Rosa and ‘crossroads’ by Simas and Rufino, we analyze the meanings of the “protection” operated by State agents. The crossings were conducted between 2019 and 2024, taking place at the Fórum de Maternidades, Uso de Drogas e Convivência Familiar (Forum on Maternity, Drug Use, and Family Coexistence) and a Street Clinic team, both in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro. Nine State agents were interviewed, they worked in the health, social assistance, and justice systems. In Crossing we recognize three crossroads: “the State half angel, half monster”, the “false dilemma of the most vulnerable”, and “the perversity of ‘acts of good’”. These crossroads lead to paradoxical arguments and institutional disputes between the rights of children and women/mothers, with tensions between the recognition of motherhood as a right and the child as vulnerable. Legal frameworks define destinies, relegating debate and confrontation of the social conditions that shape these lives to a secondary role. Given Brazil’s slavery tradition, building reparatory policies for these women and their children requires a different configuration of the State, capable of addressing structural inequalities.